Blogs from Santa Cruz, California, United States, North America
August 5th 2011
I just moved all my crap from San Diego. Still not done unpacking. Still need to pack for my trip. Still need to get a bunch of things for my trip. Still need to get a health clearance. Not ready at all. ... read more
Day 56: San Fran to Santa Cruz
Published: June 25th 2011North America » United States » California » Santa Cruz
June 23rd 2011
This morning we headed off with our packs towards the train station to catch our train to San Jose. It was a bit of a mission walking uphill with our packs! At least there was heaps of room on the train, so we could spread out and take our packs off. We got to the San Jose Aiport to pick up our car, and were not too happy because we had to pay over $300 extra as a charge for dropping the car off in a different place, and for full insurance cover which we thought we had already paid for. But we decided that it was still worth getting the car, rather than relying on public transport, because our trip wouldn't be the same without it. I drove us to Santa Cruz, which was a ... read more
June 12th 2011
My sister Kathleen, who is visiting from London, rented a beach house this weekend, and she invited us all there. My dad couldn’t make it, but everyone else could. It was right on the beach in a great area and it was mucho fun. Enjoy the pictures. Santa Cruz is a typical California beach community with surfers and a beach-side amusement park. It is about an hour south of San Francisco on the Pacific Ocean. The boardwalk features a roller coaster along with other rides and a Fun House. The Fun House includes all those silly mirrors that make you look taller or shorter, fatter or skinnier. When we were teenagers, my mother moved us from Modesto, California to Campbell, California. Modesto was a small town and being a doctor’s x-wife in a small town didn’t ... read more
April 11th 2011
Hi dear hearts, This is an introduction to my trip and a test post to see how this travel blog works! The reward for checking out this initial post is some local S.Cruz area photos I took for the photography class I took earlier this winter. :) Some of you know that I've been planning, and hoping it will work out, a trip this spring to the 4 Corners area, and then continuing on to Minn. to visit family. I've been to a good number of extraordinary places in the 4 Corners states, but there's a strip of Beauty in S. UT, S. CO, N. AZ and N. NM that I've always wanted to see - some places since I was a kid, others for more than 15 years. Some anticipated highlights include: Grand Canyon Antelope ... read more
Trip down the Monterrey Bay
Published: August 1st 2010North America » United States » California » Santa Cruz
July 30th 2010
Today we traveled down to Carmel via Highway 1. On our way, we stopped at Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing. Apparently this restaurant/fish market has been featured on both "Dirty Jobs" and Bobby Flay's "Throw Down". Phil beat Bobby with his Cioppino...not surprising...food there was delicious!!! Stopped in Monterrey to check out the wharf area. A Navy boat was tied-up there, and it was interesting to see the security involved with it. The harbor patrol was out in a small dingy, but had their rifle out, just in case... We walked around the wharf shopping area and then drove thru the old cannery row. There were a few canneries still in operation, but it was mostly shopping in the old buildings. We then headed to Carmel...it reminded me so much of Leavenworth, but with a ... read more
July 29th 2010
We left for Santa Cruz around noon on Tuesday. As we had stayed at the casino, they gave us $20 for joining their players club. We went in to play it and ended up winning $20 for me and $25 for Glenn. Had a roll and coffee, then G wanted to play cards for a few minutes. He won $100 in about 15 minutes, so this was the most prosperous casino stay by far!! Arrived in SC around 5pm. Had called the Harbor RV and they had an opening. Got settled in, cleaned the fridge (I know, but it HAD to be done :), then visited with our "neighbors". They were 2 couples from the area who had come to camp for the SC marathon last weekend. They were really nice to us, took us under ... read more
Santa Cruz - on a wireless wave
Published: May 30th 2010North America » United States » California » Santa Cruz
May 30th 2010
Santa Cruz - 2.30pm Sun. 30 Nov. (did you know its nickname is Santa Cruise becos of all the gays and lesbians here?) I have just arrived into the Paradise Inn by the Beach motel here and it has got kinda warm - supposedly 24 here which is about 6 degrees warmer than Monterey yesterday. Got 2 buses over here which took about 2 1/2 hrs in total and cost $5 - public transport, you can do it see! First was Salinas to Watsonville, which is the limit of the Salinas-Monterey system, then onto a Santa Cruz system bus. Out from Salinas it was all level flat growing fields - the US salad bowl they tell me - thru Castroville, which accdg to the banners is the "artichoke capital of the world" - must have been ... read more
Santa Cruz - not quite going backwards
Published: May 31st 2010North America » United States » California » Santa Cruz
May 30th 2010
its heading on midnight so I am starting to fall asleep - but must blog some more! May as well "finish off" Santa Cruz as got some good snaps down on the Boardwalk - one of the classic ones left in the US by all accounts - all the fun of the (fun) fair - along with more fried food than you can poke a stick at - deep fried cheesecake anyone? (I kid you not!). I got here about 1-ish and was lucky to get into a room - which I then proceeded not to really leave for about 3 hrs (typical) - checking the wifi etc and doing early post. As I had not had breakfast (in Salinas no time) or lunch - when I got here - finally got a falafel sandwich c.5.30pm ... read more
Bike Ride from Fresno to Santa Cruz!
Published: May 20th 2010North America » United States » California » Santa Cruz
May 20th 2010
Wow, what an amazingly challenging adventure we had! This was our first long-distance, multi-day bike adventure and honestly...I think we did pretty well. We put a lot of time in gear preparation since we didn't have a lot of time for physical training. Haha! Within hours of getting Minnie a bike at Target, we had decided to take this trip from Fresno to Santa Cruz to make it to our friend's 40th birthday party this past Sat. So we researched, gathered, and bought gear for biking, camping, adventuring, and partying! And of course, we had to bring our adventure dog Bella - so she had to have gear too! We left for our Journey early Monday morning (the 10th), with bikes weighted down and spirits high! It took us a few hours to work out the ... read more
Fishys & Fairgrounds
Published: April 29th 2010North America » United States » California » Santa Cruz
April 27th 2010
26th & 27th APril 2010 Fishys & Fairgrounds Monterey Bay was the first stop of the day for a visit to the world famous aquarium, for those trivia fans - it was built by David Packard of Hewlett Packard fame! The fish, turtles, penguins and flamingos were popular with the little guy as was a small dome that he could sit inside while waves crashed above his head. We stopped for lunch but we should have headed back to the van - it was decidedly average and very overpriced! Something like $35 for three sandwiches a couple of crisps and an apple! Later that afternoon after a driving tour round Santa Cruz we arrived at Seacliff State Park, about ten minutes down the road, for our next stop. A breezy time was had on the beach. ... read more
