‘The 12-step Chocoholics Program: Never be more than 12 steps away from chocolate.’
We’re goin’ Cruzin’ today, or actually we ‘re heading on up to Santa Cruz, 58 miles north of our campground. Here we expect to find the SC Boardwalk, the Municipal Wharf, a beautiful drive along the coast and the Natural Bridges State Park and world-class professional surfers trying out the waves. Lots to see and do there and we were off early. We chose Sunday since we wanted to be in with crowds. Usually, we choose weekdays since we want to actually see things like museums and trails. But a Boardwalk with rides and a State Park are going to be more fun with lots of people and kids around.
We found a free parking spot - not easy to find but we found one about 4 blocks from the Boardwalk just sitting there calling our names (otherwise it was $12 for the entire day in one of the lots). The Boardwalk was built back in 1907 and is now the oldest surviving amusement park and one of the few still on the West Coast. It has 30 rides, loads of food stands (everything is fried from fried Hostess Twinkies to fried Smucker’s PB&J to fried Oreos),
a large arcade, 2 rides which are National Historic Landmarks, the Giant Dipper, a wooden roller coaster from 1924 which rockets you around its track
and the Looff Carousel from 1911 with 73 hand carved and painted wooden horses with real horsehair tails.
The Carousel also has music provided by a 342-pipe organ built in 1924 but the neatest thing if the ring that you can grab as you ride by. Maybe you’ll get the ‘brass ring’ which is special but the thing to do is to then toss the ring into the clown’s mouth about 15’ along the carousel circle. We were surprised to see adults actually riding the Carousel and not just accompanying kids. But the thrill is tossing the ring. Then, as the lights on the clown blink and the bells ring, you raise your hands in victory and the others on the Carousel cheer and vow to get their ring in next time around
3,000,000 visitor to the boardwalk per year but this was Sunday in the early spring and, though the day promised to be beautiful and warm, we didn’t see this many. Just enough to enjoy the crowds.
Next we walked on over to the Municipal Wharf
with its shoppes, restaurants and sea lions underneath, lolling on the piers and serenading each passerby.
We also walked through town down the main streets. It was like an indoor mall. Whereas the main street of Des Moines dies on the weekend while the malls teem with people, here the mainstreet is the mall and people were walking up and down. There were musicians on every block, a clown doing magic tricks, an antique show on one of the side streets and people with packages strolling up and down.
Then off to get the car and drive to the West Cliff Drive where we parked and began to walk to the Natural Bridges State Park. Beautiful walk and everyone else was enjoying it too. Families, bikers, joggers and others like Gary and me who were just taking advantage of the marvelous weather and beautiful views across the ocean. Hmmm, we thought it was only 2 miles along the Drive but the SP is no where in sight. We’d better turn around and drive the car closer. I can only walk so far.
Back in the car, we took off and finally found the Natural Bridges SP. Now, they call it Natural Bridges (with a plural) SP but we saw only one Natural Bridge here. What we also found was a Jewish baptism for two adults. There was a large group on the beach, dressed in festive garb along with two people in flowing white robes. The horn sounded, the tambourines shook, the people chanted and the couple along with two others walked into the water. Then, they disappeared below the surface and, when they came up, every one cheered. This couple wanted their baptism done here since it was truly ‘natural water.’ What fun thing to see.
But, it’s late and it’s time to head back.
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