phipps farm, pescadero
While the kids slept in the car we drove the coast highway. We tried to drive through to check out Ano Nuevo state park, but when you drive in it's about 100 yards to a dead end parking lot — you can't see anything special until you get out and start walking. Since we couldn't ditch the kids, this idea was a bust. We then drove up to Pescadero thinking we'd check out Phipps & Harley Farms once the kids woke up. Pescadero turns out to be a really quiet, sleepy little town — don't blink.
Max woke up on the grumpy side of his car seat. It took him awhile to warm up to the idea of exploring the Phipps Country Store. Phipps is a weird place. It's out of touch, run down and pretty depressing on one hand, while on the other, it's exotic, bizarre and creepy. The white haired, hunched over, thin and tiny old woman working at the cash register was the only employee. She was hardly doing much, not that I blame her, but it left the property feeling even more abandoned than it looked.
There were some gorgeous birds, like this lovely white parrot who repeatedly performed flip tricks for us, but then there were some horrific birds pecking and eating a dead bird. Yikes! This was one of the most obvious moments when we started to realize just how bad it is at Phipps. Once you tour the rest of the farm you'll see many chickens, peacocks, geese and other birds— plus goats, sheep and pigs who are all living in a really neglectful environment. You can see the abuse in the animals ugly behavior and their shredded, scarred bodies. Many looked so bad I had to avert my eyes. I felt too pained to document it so you won't see images of the horror here, but heed my warning and skip Phipps when next you are in Pescadero.
When you aren't horrified by the unhappily cages animals, you will find some neat old antique tractors scattered about the property.
Apparently Phipps is also well known for it's dried beans. They did have a large selection, but the store had the same run down and dirty feeling of the rest of property which really didn't inspire me to purchase anything. Instead I gave a donation to the animals — in the hopes they'll get fed.
We left Phipps hoping to make it to Harley Farms, but they'd closed shop just a few minutes before we got there. Bummer, 'til tomorrow...