Cruisin’ in Santa Cruz

Cruisin' In Santa Cruz

My 27 year old niece, Erika, was getting married I Santa Cruz so I planned a weekend trip to attend. I wanted Dawn to go with me so she could meet some of the family she hasn’t met yet as well.

I had just spent a week in San Jose with a short side trip to Santa Cruz three months earlier so I knew the area fairly well already. I hadn’t gotten to see Santa Cruz beach or the boardwalk though so I definitely wanted to see that.

Dawn had earned a free ticket on Southwest and my brother offered me his free ticket on Southwest that he had earned so airfare was a slam dunk. I hunted for a hotel and debated whether or not to stay in Santa Cruz where all the hotels are two stars at four star prices or to go ahead and stay in San Jose where the hotels are much cheaper and nicer. Since we had to fly into San Jose anyway I opted for a hotel near the airport since I found what appeared to be a great price at a very nice three star hotel, the Hotel Sierra.

Dawn took care of the rental car since she earned points with Southwest Airlines for car rental at Hertz and we were all set to go.

When the day finally came we had to get up at 5:00am for a 7:25am flight out of Houston Hobby airport. When I pulled up to the gate at the parking lot the gate went up without spitting out a ticket so I drove on in but all the while wondering what was going to happen when we came back and tried to get out of the lot without a ticket.

Unfortunately, we were in group C for boarding the flight so that meant that we probably weren’t going to get seats together and that proved to be correct. We had to change planes in Denver and boarded with group B and got seats together when someone offered to switch seats so we could be together for the second leg of the trip.

Upon arriving at San Jose airport at 11:00am Pacific Time we searched for the rental car shuttle and headed that way. With the airport under construction it wasn’t easy to find some things but we managed.

Dawn had reserved a car so she tried to use one of the kiosks but to no avail. Then when one of the agents assisted her she was told that we were too early to pick up the car. They charge by 24 hour periods and to get it earlier would mean an additional day and they wanted over $100 for the additional day. Naturally we were not pleased, to say the least, that Hertz wanted so much money for what amounted to an extra three hours of rental.

I called the hotel to see if they had a shuttle. They did but it was not in service at the time and the earliest it would be available would be 2:30pm. So we took a taxi to the hotel with the idea that we could take the hotel shuttle back to Hertz to pick up the car at 2:30pm and then go on to Santa Cruz for the rehearsal dinner.

As we were checking in at the Hotel Sierra the manager asked us if we got a receipt for the cab ride because they could reimburse us! I couldn’t believe my ears. Unfortunately, we did not get a receipt. The manager said she would try to get one from the cab driver later. I dismissed that as a possibility and kissed our twenty four dollars good-bye.

The hotel was beautiful. It has what I would call a very elegant décor. Not luxurious, but elegant. The room was a pleasant surprise, classy with a mini-kitchen, a sofa, a desk, and a flat panel TV. It wasn’t very big but we were very pleased. The hotel offered a complimentary full breakfast, free internet and free parking; all for the $71 per night price I got on expedia.com! Sweeeet!

After getting unpacked we went to check out the shopping plaza next door to the hotel. We went to Red Robin for lunch and Safeway to pick up a pair of sunglasses for each of us as we forgot to bring ours. Dawn found a nice pair but, as usual, I couldn’t find a pair of clip-on sunglasses. When we got back to the hotel the manager handed us our taxi fare refund! How nice to see such great customer service!

After a short nap we got dressed to go to the rehearsal dinner and went to the lobby to catch the hotel shuttle. To our surprise the hotel shuttle was a fully loaded Suburban with leather seats! When we got to Hertz Dawn went straight to the counter and the clerk remembered us being there earlier and was very sympathetic to our ordeal. She got talking about the fact that she had been there for ten hours with just one break and wanted to go home and was clearly a bit irritated. So we let her know that we were sympathetic towards her plight and let her know how much we appreciated her. As a result she proved to be very helpful and gave us a discount to cover the cost of the GPS we wanted. We were getting treated to some great customer service that day and were wondering if everyone in California was this nice!

The drive out highway 17 to Santa Cruz from San Jose is beautiful. The road winds its way through gorgeous mountains and forests. We got to Santa Cruz early enough to spend some time walking around downtown. Downtown Santa Cruz is a few square blocks of touristy restaurants and shops and is always crowded with a mix of locals, tourists, and the homeless.

As you look around you wonder if you have gone through some kind of time warp back to the Haight Asbury district of San Francisco during the 60’s. There are lots of long-haired hippie types, some probably from the university (UC Santa Cruz), and some just working the system and living off the streets. Others look like they’re old enough to have been back in San Fran during the 60’s.

If you’ve ever been to the California coast you know that it is always much colder by the ocean than inland. The temperature was warmer than expected for September 25th, but still there was a little chill in the air so I bought Dawn a nice scarf from World Market, a nice eclectic little shop on a corner in downtown selling all kinds of little spiritual and esoteric accessories and knick-knacks.

Then it was on to the rehearsal dinner at the groom’s parent’s house in Capitola. It was a beautiful house on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was great to see many people I hadn’t seen in years, even decades. Afterwards we headed back over the mountain to Santa Clara where the hotel was.

Saturday morning we took advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel and lolly gagged around a little bit before heading off to explore the coast. We took our change of clothes for the wedding with us as it is about a 40 minute drive each way from Santa Clara to Santa Cruz, depending on traffic, and we didn’t want to make that trip twice. Our first stop was the Santa Cruz boardwalk and beach. This little town has a very quaint feel to it. The main attraction is the waterfront area which has an old fashioned boardwalk containing shops and arcades. The boardwalk is flanked by an amusement park on one side and a pier on the other that you can drive out onto and park while you shop at the stores on the pier.

As we drove around trying to figure out what there was to see and where to park to see it we were stopped by a policeman in a patrol car and he informed me that I had driven straight through an intersection where you could only make turns (there was no sign). Realizing we were tourists he didn’t issue us a citation. As a matter of fact when I explained to him what we were doing it turned out to be a stroke of luck for us as the officer became a wealth of information, a kind of roaming chamber of commerce, on where to park and what to see.

If you plan on being there all day go ahead and park in the boardwalk parking lot for twenty dollars per day. If you only plan on being there a short while there are plenty of parking meters on nearby streets that will cost you $1.50 per hour.

There was a flurry of activity on the beach. There were several volleyball nets set up and lots of stray volleyballs lying around so anyone could pick one up and start a game. Surprisingly it was quite warm on the beach. Even in the middle of summer it can be quite cool there. Disappointingly there were also swarms of flies that were relentless in their annoyance. With virtually no wind they were able to easily do whatever it is that flies do. So the heat and the flies cut our visit on the beach a little bit short and we headed back to the car.

We headed down highway 1 towards Monterey. It’s a beautiful drive with occasional glimpses of the ocean on one side, mountains on the other and fields of various vegetables on both sides all along the way. We were running short on time so we stopped at the Best Western Beach Resort just north of Monterey for lunch. This hotel has a prime spot along the coast, directly on the beach. After taking in the views for a few minutes we realized that we really didn’t have time for a sit-down meal in a restaurant so we settled for McDonald’s drive thru and headed back towards Santa Cruz.

The wedding reception was going to be at the Inn at Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz. My brother had rented a house for themselves and a few guests at the Inn and so that was the best place for us to change clothes and get ready for the wedding. It included a game room, Jacuzzi (which wasn’t working) and patio. The Inn is set on beautiful grounds next to a golf course and the house had kind of a rustic elegance to it. The rooms at the Inn, however, are average and don’t have a/c.

The wedding was at Holy Cross Church and was part of an old Spanish mission and its architecture is very much like you’d expect, simple yet impressive because of its age and history.

The pre-reception party at the Inn was fun as we got to reacquaint ourselves with long lost relatives and friends and meet some new ones. The garden area outside was a nice spot. As we waited to be seated for the meal we looked at the flowers and watched hummingbirds busily flitter here and there.

Once the meal got started the various traditions of a wedding reception proceeded. My brother impressed us all with his heart-felt toast to his lovely wife and daughter. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Since we had had a long day and had a long drive ahead of us we excused ourselves after dessert as the dancing was just beginning and headed back to Santa Clara and our hotel. On the way back I accidentally exited into the town of Los Gatos. That turned out to be a nice detour as we saw a quaint touristy street lined with restaurants and shops with throngs of visitors enjoying themselves walking the sidewalks and dining out on sidewalk cafés. The sights and sounds made us want to return there some time.

I got back on highway 17 and as we returned to the Hotel Sierra we decided to try out the Jacuzzi by the pool. It was about 10:00pm so we had the pool area to ourselves and thoroughly enjoyed just sitting quietly in the hot bubbling water. The outside temperature was just cool enough to make sitting in hot water enjoyable. Afterwards we dried off in one of the poolside cabanas and made use of the lounge chairs for a bit before retiring to our room.

On Sunday, our last day, our departure flight wasn’t until 3:10pm so we had time for a little more sight seeing before heading to the airport. I showed Dawn the neighborhood where I stayed three months earlier on a business trip which was just outside of downtown on The Alameda. Then we drove into downtown. Seeing that there was a street fair about to begin we decided to park and walk around.

Since it was Sunday morning we decided we would go to St. Joseph’s cathedral. A mass was just beginning as we got there. The cathedral was packed with a standing room only crowd. We were treated to a Spanish language Mexican mass complete with a large mariachi band. The cathedral is very old and impressive. You could even say it’s a small version of St. Peters in Rome as the layout and abundance of statues and stained glass reminded me of that holy place.

Since there was no place to sit we didn’t stay for the entire mass and went to the Cathedral Gift Shop next door. Dawn wanted to buy a little something for the woman at Hertz Rental Car who helped us so much. It’s a nice little shop with ample Catholic paraphernalia for home and for gift giving.

We then headed down Market Street and wandered through the street fair that was just getting started. There were traditional Mexican dancers already displaying their talents on one stage. There was a band getting set up to play on another stage. Vendors were setting out their wares. The city’s convention center is at the end of the block as well as a theater. There are a couple of museums nearby. A fountain spitting water up from the ground provided a way for kids to play and keep cool.

We walked over to Paseo de San Antonio, one of the many nice places to take a stroll and grab a snack or a coffee and sit outside in downtown San Jose. Many of the streets are lined with trees and have light rail train tracks. Public transportation is plentiful and affordable and easy to use. We stopped at Starbucks and just sat for a while.

Getting back in the car we drove around San Jose State University to get a feel for what it is like since we both have children approaching college age. It is a nice campus in the heart of downtown.

It was then time to head back to the hotel to retrieve our things so we could go to the airport. Upon checking in at a Southwest kiosk we were hoping to sit together but even with our group B designation we were unable to sit together on the plane. On the return trip we had to change planes in Phoenix and surprisingly were able to catch an earlier connection than the one we had booked. As a result we got back in Houston about an hour and a half earlier than anticipated.

Still, what remained to be seen was what was going to happen when I got to the toll plaza at the airport parking lot without a ticket. To our surprise the attendant told us upon seeing my EZ Tag sticker on my window that I needed to exit a certain gate and that my EZ Tag account was charged automatically. So the good news is that the entrance gate didn’t give me a ticket because of the automatic way it handles EZ Tag customers. The bad news was two days later when I got an email receipt from EZ Tag for the parking it was $51 for just three days! Yikes!

Anyway, we had a great time, saw from friends and relatives, and got a much needed break from the daily grind. That part of the country has such natural beauty and a great climate that we’ve decide we would love to live there some day. What better compliment can you pay a place than that.

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