Nov 24, 2003 - A Picture From Hope

A total of 8 people correctly identified the picture on the right as being located at the end of the Hope/La Cumbre off-ramp of Highway 101 North.  The names of the of the lucky 8 were dropped into the ceremonial EDHAT and, with much fanfare and hoopla, one name was picked as the winner of the much sought after FREE MOVIE TICKETS. And the winner is .... drum roll please .. sbcharter!

If you are from out-of-town and you happen to get off of the freeway at Hope (which based purely on its name would seem like a good place to exit), then you would encounter quite an awesome display of blue signage. And as you slow down from 60 to 20 around a hairpin right hand turn, you will have very little time and opportunity to ponder the message the signs are trying to convey.  Even if you happen to be stopped at the red light, you might not be able to decipher the meaning of the double bent arrow on the bottom middle sign. But, there is also a strong possibility that you will not see the sign at all because you will be distracted by the car dealer across the street selling Porsche SUV’s.  Porsche SUV’s???  Waaaah!?

The dedicated staff at edhat.com, whose only interest in Porsche SUV’s is ascertaining whether or not our governor owns one, put on their collective thinking caps and figured out what the signs mean. It’s actually a Rube Goldberg puzzle.  The diesel gas explodes, knocks against the fork, pushes up the bed, which flies up in the air!

As far as gas, food and lodging is concerned; if you go straight you can get food at LaCumbre Plaza (Baja Fresh, Red Robin, Plaza Deli, and Pizza Mizza), but you have to be sly enough to navigate to the far side of the shopping center. You can also get food if you turn right on State Street (Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, Burger King, and Rusty’s Pizza). A right on State also brings you past the Sandman Inn.

If you go straight and to the left, you can find fine accommodations at The Pepper Tree.

If you go left at the light (which by means of careful counting and quick calculation, the edhat.com staff determined to be the action of 2/3 of all cars), then you can merge into one lane and turn right on La Cumbre Rd where you can also access two gas stations (Chevron and Texaco), all the restaurants at La Cumbre, and a bunch of eating places in the Five Points Center (Carl’s Jr, Peet’s Coffee, Starbucks, Sams To Go, Maria’s, McDonalds, Mandarin Palace).

All being said, the always-helpful edhat.com staff recommends that all out-of-town visitors ignore the hopeful name of the off-ramp and proceed to State Street/154 where there is an easy right turn to Five Points.  But, if an out-of-towner does end up at the Hope off-ramp deciding between two paths diverged, we recommend a left turn.  And, that will make all the difference.