Hidden Adventures: Popular pit spot for Valley travelers

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Traveling to lakes or beaches has been a go-to destination for families that are trying to social distance.

Just an hour and 45 minutes north of Downtown Fresno is a business that can be hidden to drivers on the freeway.

Casa De Fruta in Hollister, California, has been here for over 100 years. It's just off the road if you're traveling up to Santa Cruz or San Francisco.

They have tons of fruits, a sweet shop and they just reopened their restaurant with an extended patio.

Casa De Fruta just reopened its doors and is excited to welcome back its customers.

"At times we would receive 10-12 buses a day from foreign travelers," says owner Suzan Slater. "Now, we're not seeing any buses really just have the local travelers now."

Suzan's father and two uncles started the Fruit Stand in 1940. Over time it has grown; there is now a wine and sweet shop, 24 hour restaurant, a deli, Chevron station and an inn for those who want to stay the night in the Pacheco Pass.

With new health restrictions, their restaurant has extended the outside patio and wine tasting has been stopped for now.

"Signage at the front door, customer service at the front door to make sure people are wearing a mask," Slater said.

One of the major changes she said they had to make was the open candy bins. All the chocolate and almonds are individually packaged.

For some travelers, Casa De Fruta is a must stop tradition.

"I'm from Newman; I always go to Santa Cruz to visit my family, and I stop here all the time," says Brittany Axie. "It's a nice little place, there's restrooms, a nice place for kids to run around and stretch your legs."

"I've been stopping here since I was a kid, we would always go down to Fresno for family reunions," says Melanie Hulman. "We've always made this one of our stops. I'm 53, so I've been coming here for as long as I can remember."