John Cletheroe's
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Merced, California
Location
Merced is situated towards the northern end of the San Joaquin valley, California's main fruit growing area. The town lies on California State Highway 99.
Description
Merced is a medium sized town with a wide range of shops, motels and restaurants which are mainly located in two separate areas:
- On Main Street and adjacent and intersecting streets just to the east of the Ca99 Freeway. Main Street runs parallel to the Freeway, two or three blocks east of it.
- On Olive Avenue, a mile or two further east (although I don't think there are any motels in this area).
Because of the presence of a small river there are only a limited number of streets which connect these two areas. Also, the alignment of the streets in the two areas varies (one being N-S/E-W, the other being NW-SE/NE-SW). The combination of these two complications makes navigation between the two areas rather tricky unless you have a map of the town.
We have visited Merced on a number of occasions. In the 1980's we felt it was an excellent town. In the early 1990's, at the height of the recession, a number of shops and restaurants had closed and the town seemed to be in something of a decline. We visited again in the summer of 1998 and the town had completely recovered back to its former buoyant self and can once again be highly recommended.
In the Area
- Yosemite National Park The scenic drive from Merced to Yosemite is a fascinating lesson in geography as you observe the change from the flat valley of the San Joaquin to the foothills of the Sierras, passing through the little towns of Midpines and Mariposa.
California
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Most recently modified 9-Jan-00