Out of San Jose, Into the Mountains & Onto the Beach

DAY 1

We flew to the West Coast to visit Scott's sister, Katrina, and her husband, Dennis, for spring break. We arrived in San Francisco at midnight there time, 2 a.m. our time. It was about 3:30 a.m. central time before we went to bed.

Even though we went to to bed late Scott was super excited and woke us all up early.

I developed a harsh cold before the trip and the plane ride didn't help, plus I was very excited to be in California for the first time in two years.

Katrina made us smoothies and bacon for breakfast. Even Scott had some. 

After Dennis made a quick stop for coffee we were on our way to a California adventure.

They took us to see some Redwoods. The road up to the state park was very squiggly (or winding). We had to stop to take a break halfway so Scott and I could ease our stomachs.

If I had gotten hot dog from Mr. Mustard, I wouldn't have kept that puppy in.

We went to the Big Basin Redwood State Park. Had I known they had camping sites we would have brought our camping gear.

That would have been rad.

I've seen these trees in photographs so it was cool to see them in real life. Being up here made me think of summers at the cottage. 

Except for, you know, much bigger trees and verdant mountains.

Apparently a lot of the trees burn in the middle. I don't really understand how the fires don't spread.

Dennis said something about being struck by lightning.

A guy asked if he could take our picture by the Father of the Forest.

Katrina, who is also expecting a babe this year wanted a picture of the future mothers by the Mother of the Forest.

Hey that's funny. Brooke very well could be the mother of Forrest.

They had a tree showing the rings and how old it was. The tree was born in the 500's. It was pretty amazing to know how old these trees are and how they didn't get cut down for lumber. 

After that we headed towards Santa Cruz.

We stopped for lunch on the way in Boulder Creek.

We at the appropriately named Boulder Creek  Brewing Company. We all got burgers while Dennis I also chose a craft beer. 

The burger that both Dennis and I ordered not only had fried onions, but also deep-fried avocados. Only Californians would do such a thing.

Oh and the beer was good too. 

After more winding roads, we arrived in sunny Santa Cruz.

We first stopped at the boardwalk along the beach.

The only ride Katrina and I could go on was the Skyride, but it was closed for some reason.

Instead they took bathroom breaks.

I kind of felt like I was on Coney Island.

I felt like I was living some weird dream of the 90s or as I put it later, a Bill Clinton fever dream.

I wanted to check out the beach next.

She loves beaches.

The water was like Lake Superior cold, yet there were quite a few people swimming.

Ah the American dream, shooting things.

Then we walked over to the pier. Personally I think this should have been pedestrian only. I didn't think it was really necessary for cars to have to drive on it.

After hanging out at the beach first, I was a bit taken aback. I thought Santa Cruz was full of hippies. Once we got into the "real" part of the city, I realized that the beach was a world onto itself.

The Wrobleskis took us to one of their favorite ice cream spots, the Penny Ice Cream. They had lots of unique flavors like orange cardamom and brown sugar oatmeal.

As we sat down, we realized that we could've ordered the ice cream at Penny's stand on the main drag. Anyhow, it was a bit icy for a custard connoisseur from Milwaukee.

We had to make another stop for Dennis to get coffee. I never really drink coffee, but now that I can't have it, I want it all the time.

Back at their place we watched The Business of Being Born, while Scott and Dennis had one of their many discussions. 

Sorry dudes.

Scott went to bed and we watched Tiny Furniture by the creator of Girls. I thought this movie would be just as good, but it wasn't very funny at all and kind of boring. 

I'm glad I was sleeping.