Santa Cruz - Next Day

Santa Cruz - Next Day

Everybody slept in this morning... until 7:30am that is, then the girls decided it was time to visit the great outdoors!! It was a little chilly but at least it wasn't raining which is definitely a plus! After everyone took care of our morning chores we went to the office and had a light breakfast and decided what we wanted to do for the day.

Photo of Natural Bridges courtesy of  Friends of Santa Cruz.org

We decided to start with a drive of the area to check out some of the beaches where we could walk the dogs. Driving West along West Cliff Drive we passed some absolutely beautiful homes sitting atop the bluff looking out over Monterey Bay and the surfers riding the waves below. Our tour took us all the way past Lighthouse Field State Beach and the Surfing Museum to Natural Bridges State Beach. Unfortunately, the Park Ranger informed us that no dogs were allowed, so we turned around and headed inland to see some of Santa Cruz.

Tina and the kids on Twin Lakes Beach

We crossed Santa Cruz from West to East and ended up on East Cliff Drive and crossed over the Yacht Basinand down to Twin Lakes Beach where we stopped to give the dogs a break and chase Seagulls. It was around 60 degrees out with a wind that took the temperature down to the mid 50's as you can probably tell... we both have jackets on. The girls loved running around in the sand and checking out all the smells.

The shops by the beach in Capitola

After about 40 minutes at Twin Lakes we headed back to the car to continue exploring. Continuing on East Cliff Drive we wound our way around past Soquel Point and ended up crossing Soquel Creek into the small town of Capitola.

Tina and Wicket taking a break!

Capitola got it's start as a small fishing village and with it's wharf was able to deliver produce from inland to the coast. Today Capitola is a popular tourist town because of its trendy shops and restaurants on the shore directly connecting to a fishing wharf and its large, sandy beach. We parked at the beach and walked around town before ending up back at the beach where we sat on a bench to take a break!

Tina checking out the wind on the Wharf!

Leaving Capitola we headed back to Santa Cruz for lunch at a small place on Pacific called, Surfrider Cafe where we both had a very nice lunch. After lunch we went back to the hotel so we could drop the kids off, they would take a nap while we continued exploring. Santa Cruz is definitely a young persons town with kids skate boarding down Main Street and bicycles and people walking everywhere. Since we were only a few blocks from the beach we decided to walk down to the Santa Cruz Wharf and see what's there.

The "Captain" and his new ride - found it on the Wharf!

The Wharf is huge, you can drive on it (two lanes plus parking) and it must stretch out into the bay for about half a mile. The Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf is possibly the longest Pier along the California coast that allows car traffic. There are no parking meters on the Wharf, you drive on, park, shop or eat and when you drive off you pay your parking tab. Actually it was pretty reasonable, a buck an hour up to four hours.

Just a few of the Sea Lions passing the end of the Wharf

We walked past all the shops and restaurants checking out menus for dinner. When we got to the end of the wharf we found a huge pod of Sea Lions on the move. The sound was incredible and when we looked over the end of the wharf, towards the water, we found the reason. At high tide, at least 100 to 150 Sea Lions had pulled themselves up onto the pier cross beams.

They're Everywhere!

When we moved back to one of the holes cut into the wharf normally used for off-loading fish or supplies we were surprised to see how big some of them were.

They really look soft when their fur warms and drys!

Leaving the end of the wharf we wandered back to Bonnie's where Tina had looked at a nice jacket. We went back in and after trying one on again she decided that she liked it so we got it. Back outside we decided to come back for dinner to one of the restaurants we'd passed.

Santa Cruz Boardwalk Amusement Park

Rides on the Boardwalk

Heading back to shore I took a couple of photos of the big Boardwalk Amusement Park. If you ever decide to head here check out the website http://www.beachboardwalk.com/ for details. When we were visiting we couldn't figure out why nothing was in use - later found out that in March they only run the rides on weekends! Their season starts in April while Naples Season is just winding down - heh, heh! But it's still a pretty spectacular sight with two huge roller coasters and a real carnival atmosphere, even if just sitting there!

After walking back to the hotel and taking the kids for a walk we decided to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon until dinnertime. I grabbed the laptop and went to the office to update the blogs while Tina took a short nap. Right around 6:30 we decided to go to dinner. Since it was continuing to cool off we drove to the pier and out to the Fishfire Grill. Tina ordered a Seafood combo that was two kebab skewers with Prawns, Scallops, Salmon and Ahi along with chunks of onion, carrots and peppers on a bed of rice pilaf. I ordered a bowl of clam chowder knowing I'd be able to share what Tina had. Everything was really excellent! We passed on dessert and feeling rather stuffed made it back to the hotel in time to take the dogs out fr a last walk then we pretty much called it a night watching a little TV and reading.

Nitey, nite!