After the third night, I had eaten all of the dishes of the breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus that appealed to me and felt comfortable that I had availed myself of the activities and facilities with an adequate amount of downtime. Agreed that adding a day before or after the Ventana either to the south or north (Carmel/Monterey) would be a good option although the routing out to the 5 from Monterey isn't that great.

I have a friend who drives the bus segment of SLO to San Jose for Amtrak and was getting tips from him on the traffic headed back into the Bay Area on the afternoon before Thanksgiving. His caution to me was that the 156/101 junction in Prunedale is regularly backed up at all hours and that the section of 101 between Gilroy and San Jose can be pretty nasty too.