Santa Cruz (Days 56 to 59)
Day 56 - Los Altos! (Hidden Villa Hostel)
Day 57 - Santa Cruz! (La Selva Beach)
Day 58 - La Selva Beach (Surfing Santa Cruz!)
Day 59 - La Selva Beach!
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Day 56 - Thursday 25 September
Los Altos!
Yesterday afternoon I left San Fransisco and drove down to Los Altos in Silicon Valley. I had a relaxing evening at the Hidden Villa Hostel and an excellent night's sleep. It was so quiet and pleasantly cool.
Today I decided to drive over the Santa Cruz Mountains and down to the Pacific Ocean. I wanted to take some quiet roads because I was still having trouble with driving on the right side of the road. Alpine Road was a scenic drive and on the western side I stopped at a small grove of Redwood trees. This grove had been marked for logging but the locals protested and ended up buying the land and creating a reserve for future generations. I'm glad they did. What magnificent trees. The undergrowth was green and cool and there were dear everywhere. I sat for quite a while to enjoy the trees and the peace and quiet. There wasn't a sole around!
I drove on down to Pacific Highway 1 and enjoyed my first view of the Pacific Ocean. the mist had rolled in which is fairly typical I believe so it was good to see. I was surprised to learn that I had to pay to visit the beach! Unheard of in my home state (at that time!).
I drove down the coast to Santa Cruz. I felt good being on Highway 1 because driving this highway had been a long term ambition of mine! I called into one of the viewing points to watch the wild ocean.
Santa Cruz was so much like many Australian coastal towns. I drove around for a while and found my way to the surfing beach (cliffs). There were scores of surfers out and hundreds of spectators. This was a Californian big surf day!
On the drive back to Los Altos, I took a couple of photos at San Gregorio (see below). That evening, I telephoned Lesley, a friend of one of my friends in Perth and I went around to her place to say hello over a couple of beers. Lesley had a small child and she was very tired. I was also beat so I only stayed a while before heading back to Hidden Villa to crash!
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Day 57 - Friday 26 September
Santa Cruz - La Selva Beach
My travel plans included Santa Cruz because I was going to stay with some friends at La Selva Beach - just south of the town. I had met Deba and her previous husband Doug in Bali a couple of years earlier. Doug and I were surfing at a place called Medewi on the west coast of the Island. I had kept in touch with Deba and promised to visit. This morning I called Gregg (Deba's new husband of a couple of months) and made arrangements to arrive in the afternoon.
I then phoned Chris who I had met in Yosemite and made arrangements to meet for lunch. I drove around Los Altos, Palo Alto and Mountain View just to get a feel for Silicon Valley. It was obviously a very wealthy region. Everything - homes, shops, offices, roads, cars, landscaping, etc - was very classy!
I had lunch with Chris and visited his place of work (Finisar) where he designed IC boards for modulating signals for fibre optic cables. Being an IT person, I felt good being at the centre of the "IT universe"! I even stopped to take a photo of the offices of Netscape - my preferred browser!
After lunch I drove down to Santa Cruz and then on to La Selva Beach (about 10 miles south). I found Deba and Gregg's house which is right on the beach. One thing that really struck me while driving in was the smell of Eucalypts which were everywhere - reminded me of Australia. After settling in, Deba and I went for a long walk along the beach and caught up on each other's news. Later we had a barbeque dinner - fish, salad, artichoke, bread and melon - very nice. We were sitting on the balcony overlooking the beach and the lights of Santa Cruz. Bliss!
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Day 58 - Saturday 27 September
La Selva Beach - Surfing Santa Cruz
I had a wonderful night's sleep in a big double bed with fleecy sheets.
Breakfast with ocean views! Then it was off to Santa Cruz with bikes hooked on the back of the Jeep. We went riding around the ocean drive. It was a warm, sunny day and the surf was up! At the point overlooking the main break there would have been a couple of hundred people watching the surfers. It was tense on the waves. I saw a couple of near punch-ups as tourists mixed it with locals. Not pretty! I did enjoy a tour of the Surfing Museum though!
Gregg talking to a old mate - Santa Cruz ocean front!
Following our ride we had lunch at a small brewery/restaurant - I had two large beers while sitting in the sun - I was really knocked around! I was very sleepy! We took the ocean route back to La Selva Beach passing several quaint beach settlements. It was a beautiful day and there were thousands of people out and about and at the beaches. Deba and Gregg kept meeting all of these people they hadn't seen for years.
When we arrived home, the guy across the road was taking a kyak down to the beach to catch a wave. After talking for a while it turned out that he had a wave ski in his shed - not only that, it was an Australian made Raider - the same brand as mine back home! I was able to borrow it and a wet suit so I accompanied him to the surf.
The waves were huge and closing out but I had a go anyway - I hate beach breaks! I had a terrible time trying to get out through the white water! I hadn't surfed for about six months so I was right out of condition. I caught one wave and then got thumped by a big wave and decided to call it a day. The work out was great though and it was wonderful to be in the ocean again!
Saturday night was a quiet affair. We were all "zonked" from the bike ride, beers at lunch time and the beach (and surf for me)! We had dinner on the deck again and then watched a hire movie before collapsing into bed.
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Day 59 - Sunday 28 September
La Selva Beach
I was going to leave Santa Cruz today but Deba talked me into staying one more day.
Following a late breakfast, we went to the Santa Cruz Flee Market. The market was like most others I had seen but there was a definite local flavour - a strong Mexican influence in the food goods. It was hot and Gregg set a deadline of 11:30 (like most males market browsing is not a favourite pastime!). Right on time we left and headed for the beach. Just down from their home, Gregg & Deba had access to a private beach for the local community. We stayed until after 5pm!
I had a good surf today - quite a hero on the wave ski. It was fun! I did get quite sunburnt though!
Just on dusk we drove up into the Santa Cruz hinterland to Gregg's project home he was building. It looked grand and the views were quite spectacular. A $1 million dollar home!
We finished off an interesting and relaxing day with a Mexican meal!
Tomorrow - south to LA on Highway 1.
Links:
Santa Cruz 1
Santa Cruz 2
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