Cruzing in Santa Cruz

After Jules and I landed in California (we were racing each other to SFO), we picked up our rental car and headed to the hotel to drop stuff off.

It was early afternoon when we got everything wrapped up and we decided to go visit Santa Cruz and dip our toes in the sand. This would be Jules’ first time on the West Coast and her first time touching the Pacific Ocean!

 

The drive there (and back) was gorgeous. We passed by massive redwoods that towered over the two lane highway and smelled the sweet mountain/ocean air. Upon arriving in Santa Cruz, we ran out onto the beach and walked in the surf (well, briefly till our feet went numb). After checking out the beach for a little, we hit the boardwalk.

 

We passed ride upon ride (side note: we are going back to try them) and all kinds of fried foods. A couple of shops were actually featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives! They also had some AWESOME arcades that had all sorts of video games in them. One of them had an actual (!) TRON game from the 80’s. I haven’t seen one of those in well over a decade, so that was quite a treat to play again.

We headed back as the sun was falling in the sky with the windows down and the music up. It was a great way to start the week and an excellent start to Jules and I’s vacation (well, when I wasn’t working at least).