Thrifting along the El Camino Real

As every child in California learns in the fourth grade, the El Camino Real, or "Kings Highway" connects the Spanish Missions built in California between 1769 and 1823. Each mission, beginning in San Diego, and ending in Sonoma, is about a day's journey apart.

The first of the 450 distinctive bells that mark the route wasn't installed until 1906. The bells are hung on supports in the form of an 11-foot high shepherd's crook, also described as "a Franciscan walking stick." When you are a child growing up here, you learn to look for these bells along the route as a way to pass time during family trips. 

Fast forward to 2011... We spent the day today visiting thrift stores, mostly along the El Camino Real, between Mountain View and South San Francisco. I didn't count how many bells we passed, but Dad did the driving. My brother John, did the navigating (aided by a GPS). Mom and I did the back seat driving.

Dad did the research, printing out lists of every thrift store in Northern California (or so it seemed). With that in hand, you can cover a lot of distance when you are being chauffeured by someone with a handicapped parking pass and guided by a GPS.

The Route?

1. Goodwill Industries Thrift Store , 855 East El Camino Real, Mountain View
2. Goodwill Industries Thrift Store, 4085 El Camino Way, Palo Alto
3. St. Vincent de Paul, 2406 El Camino Real, Redwood City
4. Savers, 875 Main Street, Redwood City
5. Salvation Army Family Store, 1170 Mission Road, South San Francisco
6. Savers, 2840 Geneva Avenue, Daly City

What did we find?

• EZ flip spatula
• Spoon scale
• Rotary and flat cheese graters
• Potato mashers (3 different versions)
• Various spatulas and dessert servers
• Meat tenderizer/hammer
• Ice tongs
• Heart shaped egg or pancake ring
• Round cake pan, bundt pan, tart pan and madeline mold
• Pastry crimper
• Cookie press
• Stainless steel bowls

And then we found this mystery item in the miscellaneous kitchen gadgets bin. With absolutely no idea what it was, I just had to have it. Found out later it is not a kitchen item at all, but a shedding blade, used to remove hairs and dead skin from your dog or horse.

You never know what you're gonna find... we've got at least two more thrift runs to do while I'm here.

What's the coolest thing you ever found at a thrift store?