Santa Cruz, California

Today we took a day trip to Santa Cruz, a very nice city on the Pacific coast.  There were lots of upscale areas by the coast and a very nice downtown with great shops and restaurants.  This is a college town, the home of the University of California at Santa Cruz.  The team mascot is the Banana Slug.  Go Slugs!  We toured the pier with souvenir shops and seafood restaurants, but the boardwalk is not open until the weekend during the autumn.  They have lots of roller coasters, rides, and arcades on the boardwalk.  We visited the Santa Cruz lighthouse, which also holds the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum.  Back in the early 1900's, 50 years before Hawaii became a state, three brothers from Hawaii came to attend the college at UCSC and this is when surfing was introduced to the states.  We had a nice lunch at an organic restaurant called Chocolate. 

Debbie at the lighthouse

A view from the lighthouse

Surfer Dude

Debbie is for the birds

                                                                          


Rollercoasters

The boardwalk area

The Santa Cruz Pier

One of the many sea lions

                                                                                 

Wave hits the seawall

A great view from the lighthouse