Up pretty early this morning only to find my luggage had yet to arrive from American. After a lengthy wait on the phone, we find out that this has been pushed back to late tonight. Grrrr!
We had breakfast inside the hotel at Jack's. Holy hell, there was enough food to do me for a month. But gooood!
In the car and up the CA1 towards Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. Just 9 miles north of Santa Cruz are these most beautiful trees. A popular park, it took a while for us to get in. The problem wasn't helped by the guy that didn't want to wait in line and during his u-turn he bottomed out on the edge of the road. Once in, we had a quick pit stop at the general store before planning out the day We got a map of the hikes, but went over and got a ticket for the Roaring Camp Railroad. This is adjacent to the park, and we can get on a train in just over an hour. Back in the park we decide to take the Redwood Grove Loop Trail. It's just under a mile along, but our map has points of interest to stop at. We saw banana slugs, a 277 foot Redwood and generally just took in these majestic trees, like none of had seen before. The weather was perfect, and being in the shade of these giants just made the whole experience complete.
We made it back to the railway for the 12.15pm train up the mountain. It is a laborious trip for the narrow gauge steam train, but one that has been done for over a century, for both logging and more recently, recreation. The view out of the open top carriage is overwhelming. You can't not see a magnificent tree any which way you look. The commentary points out the larger trees, points out trees that have survived fires and all the interesting facts - did you know the redwoods drink 500 gallons of water a day and get 40% of their intake from fog. There's a 10 minute stop at the top, as you wait for the train ahead to complete a switchback. From there it's downhill cruising. We all enjoyed this 1.5 hour train ride, and this ticks off our want to see the Redwoods while here.
Once we get back we leave the park in search of lunch. In hindsight we should have stayed longer. We drove 20 minutes down to Santa Cruz Beach. Beaches here in the US still amaze me, with their piers and boardwalks. Santa Cruz's having a massive amusement park. We stop at the north end of the beach and sit outside, beside the ocean, and have lunch at Ideal Bar & Grill. Another good meal. All enjoyed under the non-intense sun without excess heat (I could get used to this).
After lunch we just cruise the boardwalk and walk though the amusement park. This place was great. Every type of person and family in this oversized Luna Park-esque fun park just having the best time. I know I normally don't go for things like this, but there was such a positive vibe about the place, it was nice to be apart of. We didn't do any of the rides because of the wait times, but we just liked being at the boardwalk.
We went into downtown Santa Cruz momentarily. I stopped at the Gap to pick up a couple of essentials, as we still had not heard anything about my bags. Oh, and there was ice cream and cookies involved.
We took our time getting back to Monterey in the afternoon. We drove through Capitola, just to see what it looked like. The beach was packed, but it was a chill little seaside town. We made it back to the hotel and the boys opted for a rest in the room while A & I wandered through Monterey. We weren't looking at or for anything but wit was just nice to be somewhere new and see something different.
The late lunch meant A, B & I didn't want to eat anything, but I went back out to find L some Mexican. I like when I get to spend 1 on 1 time with the boys (not easy to do with twins). Another great day. Let's see if we can top it tomorrow.
