Damn. Drove that highway from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz (before turning onto 17 on my way to the Bay Area) in November 2019. Hype is well earned.
Nice work. You squeezed that right in there - It was closed from spring 2017 to summer 2018 (landslide), then most of fall 2018 and fall 2019 from the fires.
Just a stroke of luck that my friend's wedding in SB was that month. Visited Fremont, my birthplace, afterwards. First time back after having moved to Maryland in 1977. Yes, 42 years away. Hell of a mind trip. Visited Sunol, then watched nervously last year as one of the biggest fires nearly took it out (came within a mile).
Even visited a bowling alley of my youth, Cloverleaf Bowl. It had been around since the early 1960s. The land owners wanted to kick them out and sell the land for housing but they fought back. Then COVID hit and forced their hand.