Founded in 1870, Modesto is located in the Central Valley of California, between San Francisco Bay and Sacramento, the state capital. The birthplace of filmmaker George Lucas, it was the inspiration for his famous film "American Graffiti". Modesto, the capital of Stanislaus County, has 206,300 inhabitants and is located in the heart of California's largest agricultural region, the San Joaquin Valley. Agriculture and the agri-food industry are the spearheads of the local economy. Within a radius of 200 kilometres lies Yosemite National Park and the area where the gold rush was discovered in 1848. Modesto, in the state of California, in the United States, is a city known for the metal arch that spans its 9th street at a height of almost 8 m. Since 1912, it bears, in luminous letters, the motto of the city: "Water, Prosperity, Content, Health". The bronze group represents a teenage couple around a 1960s Chevrolet. The other attraction of Modesto is its proximity to the magnificent and immense Yosemite National Park. The city has changed a lot since that time, undergoing a few dark years. Things are evolving well, but we must remain cautious in certain areas of the city. In addition, cruising is now prohibited. This typically American activity consists in walking around in a car (if possible by exhibiting the most beautiful car possible). Abundantly practiced throughout the country, it is a great Californian specialty. As there was some drift (aggressive cruising), the municipality prohibited the passage at repeated intervals in the same street at certain times of the night. So be careful not to turn too much to look for your way to Modesto, you could be stopped! There is not much to do in Modesto, apart from walking the few streets of a center that doesn't really exist (10th street and J street are the main streets), limiting ourselves to only one passage per street as we have seen. A good address is the A&W Root Beer, at the corner of 14th and G street. It's an old-fashioned boui-boui where rollerblade waiters serve pitchers of root beer. The root beer is not a beer at all but a soda typical of the Usa and very little exported outside. The menu features classic American dinners. On weekends, the A&W parking lot brings back the great hours of cruising (no, really I told you, they were cruising fans at Modesto). The must seems to have a vintage car, if possible dress up as Elvis or Marilyn, then parade in the parking lot with a root beer. It's very good child but quite particular. A pure Americana moment. You can very well remain insensitive and come only for the restaurant.