Blogs from Santa Cruz, California, United States, North America - page 5

Q. Why am I traveling? A. To meet the people who I love, but don't know yet. I took a 25-mile bike ride today. It was sooo good. Man, I know I say this a lot, but I can't even handle how beautiful people are in this world. The things you do and the places you go while traveling are good, but it really is the people and the connections you make that make every up and down worthwhile. P.S. I am now an official fire spinner, and also have half of my beard singed off because of this!... read more

All parts of the US coast have their signature seafood that one would have to pay an arm and a leg for anywhere else. Lobster in Maine, Stone Crabs in Florida, Crayfish in Louisiana, King Crabs in Alaska, and Dungeness Crab in the Bay Area. I got mine at Costco, fully cooked. Here I was, sitting in my car prying apart whole cooked Dungeness while parked at Costco. It was quite good, but I was bummed to find out that the crab season had been pretty bad and that the prices were at $6-7 / lb instead of the usual $3. Still, it made for some good eating. I ate nearly everything in the crab except the gills and shell. I'm not sure if I ingested some things I shouldn't have. My car smells. Driving down ... read more

Santa Cruz, and the 'Tour of California' continues. Not ours, I hasten to add, but the AMGEN 'Tour of California'. Through a contact we had blagged some passes for the finish line hospitality tent. Most of the other occupants were a little surprised to find a pair of Brits in there, even moreso when they found out that we don't have an abiding passion for cycle racing. I did have a bit of interest though, mainly because it was the return of Lance Armstrong. Even if you know nothing about cycle racing you've gotta know about Lance, dontcha? Apparently there's a Brit rider involved, Mark Cavendish. I know nothing about him (other than descriptions I've seen - 'brash, cocky, arrogant') but he's won a couple of stages and is getting some good press. Go Mark!! I ... read more

As they say here, we 'lucked out'. Pacific storms have been bringing in some much needed rain. Not needed by us, but certainly needed by the natives. Luckily the rain kept away for our drive up to Santa Cruz. US1 is prone to rockslides, mudslides and all sorts of mishaps, many of them closing sections of it. If it gets closed you can find yourself with a looong detour involving much retracing of steps. The only place where we hit heavy rainfall was Big Sur. That was a shame 'cos I intended to take a bit of a break there and wander round. It was much too wet for that. Got to Santa Cruz mid-afternoon, cold and windy, just in time to catch the weather forecast. Cold, wet and winds of 100 mph predicted in the ... read more

DAY 17 Monterey, Pacific Grove, Moss Landing, Santa Cruz to Fairfield to Mt. Shasta City “Love Him in the mornin’ when you see the sun a’risin’ Love Him in the evenin’ ‘cause he took you through the day And in the in between time when you feel the pressure comin’ Remember that he loves you and he promises to stay” God is so loving and beautiful and patient. So why is it so easy for me to be selfish and to forget that He’s leading me and God knows best?! I’d like to get out of his way more so I could hear the Holy Spirit better and love and trust Christ Jesus more and more. The on-going process of life - learning to die to myself and live more fully for my Lord and Savior. ... read more