We left
Kenny early the next morning to meet up with a guy in Downtown LA who would
give us a lift to Santa Cruz. We had finally found someone on Craigslist who
was willing to take us with all our luggage plus the surfboards and we had also
contacted someone on CouchSurfing who was staying in Santa Cruz so everything
was set for the next big adventure. Our driver was a really cool guy, a bit
late but friendly and he had a very nice old Chevy van with the most
comfortable seats that I have ever experienced in a car. They were tipped to
the back a bit and so very soft and bouncy... I took the front seat from where
I could see the beautiful road (the highway 1 is rated one of the most
beautiful roads in the world) and found a great conversational partner while Bekki
stretched out on the bench in the back and slept through most of the trip. We
stopped in Pismo beach where we watched the sunset for a while and arrived a
few hours later in Santa Cruz at about 8:30 pm from where we only had to drive
15 minutes into the hills to Scott's Valley, the town in which we would meet
our CS host.
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The van... |
We had taken the route 1 along the coast because the van wasn't
good in the hills and it was really struggling to climb the flanks of the Santa Cruz hinterland. Our host was a pensioner from Florida who had been a tour
guide all over the world and had a lot of stories to tell about places he'd
visited. He was touring the country in his huge RV and offered to
stay with him where ever he was. The RV was probably the smallest space that we
had CSed so far but Don, our host, came up with a very pleasant surprise. After
we had brought our stuff inside he told us to put on our swimwear and follow
him outside where he showed us his HOT TUB! It wasn't really his, it belonged to
the camping ground but it was just next to his RV which made it his... It was
so nice to sink into that hot water and it was great that it was outside
because the air was freezing cold which emphasized the difference even more.
How luxurious to have a hot tub as a CouchSurfer .
The next
day we visited the Mystery Spot, a place where physical rules don't seem to
exist. Water seemed to run up hill, everything was skew and small people
seemed as tall as tall people and no one had a proper explanation for these
phenomenons. The owner had found out about it when he noticed that no building
would last that he built on that hill and so he made a tourist attraction out
of it. He managed to set up a little hut that was skew in itself which
confused the observer even more. We figured that it all had to do with some
strong optical illuson (and not some alien ship, burried deep under the
mountain which is one of the reasons they are trying to give you) but it still
was very impressive.
Don brought us to Santa Cruz's legendary boardwalk where
we spent some time walking around and looking at the attractions which
unfortunately were closed through winter. We played a game of pinball and I
normally wouldn't mention it here but I won two free games... something I never
managed before and definitely because of all that training at Kenny's place. We
had lunch on the pier fron where we could see Steamers Lane, one of the famous
point break of Santa Cruz and seals playing in the bay. I wanted to get a
closer look at the wave so we drove to the headland with the little lighthouse
where the access point for the wave is. It was a small day but it wasn't hard
to see the potential of the wave. Clear but fast righthanders that could, on a
big day, be ridden a long way into the bay. The lighthouse on the headland had
been transformed into a surfing museum with a lot of old boards and pictures
from the beginning of the sport in CA. I even found a German newspaper article
about the surf crew from Santa Cruz. We drove a little up the beautiful coast
road before we went bach to Santa Cruz to get some shopping done for Christmas.
Back at the RV we made a delicious dinner and enjoyed the evening in the hot
tub. It was already late when we woke up but we didn't really have anything
planned exept to go surfing and the tide was just about right around noon.
Bekki went for a run and Don took off to do something else so I was all on my
own when I paddled out towards Pleasure Point.I had my wetsuit on plus two
wetsuit tops which made it very hard to paddle and my arms were tired after the
first two waves but it kept me warmish in the freezing water. The waves were
small but super nice and even got
referred to as the Australian which I took as a compiment towards my surfing.
It was one of the best surf sessions I ever had but not because of the waves. Along the coast of central and northern CA the Kelp grows like crazy in huge areas called kelp forests and they are natural habitat of a lot of different animal species. I saw so many different birds, otters were playing only a boards lenght away from me and I saw some seals or sea lions in the distance. And to top it all a school of at least 20 dolphins passed me in a distance of only 20 about meters; they were so close that I could see every detail on their skin, see their faces and even make out the eyes. Truely magical! I surfed for a couple of hours before I came in because the waves had dropped completely and I couldn't feel my hands and feet and only the promising hot tub session could warm me up.
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A section of the boardwalk right at the beach |
On Wednesday we made the trip down to Monterey, a place that a lot of people had
told us to visit and that really was worth the drive. It had a huge and world
famous aquarium but they wanted to charge us 30$ per person which was a bit too
much for us so we decided to drive down the
beautiful coast a bit further and enjoy the ocean without having to pay
for it. It is no wonder to me that the Pacific Coast Highway (1) is in the top
ten of the most beautiful drives in the world because the views you get driving
along it are incredible. I would love to ride my bike down the west coast some
time because a car often goes to fast to capture all of that beauty. We drove
through Carmel, a small tourist village and towards Big Sur which is one of the
highlights of the route. We stopped at a restaurant that had charged 6$ for a
shot of coffee with some froth but had an amazing view over the cliffs leading
down to the pacific. Because it got dark we stopped at a bridge to watch the
sunset. Bekki and I walked down the path to the edge from where we had a great
view, took a few pictures and watched this wonder of the world together that we
had seen so often but is still amazing and beautiful.
To see
(or not see) Big Sur in the dark wasn't really an option so we turned around
and ended this nice day with a long hot tub session.
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The kelp forests of Monterey |
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Lazy seals |
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Cute seal |
On
Thursday we left Santa Cruz and Don offered to drive us all the way to San
Francisco which was very nice of him. We took the Hwy 1 because I wanted to see
the place where the legendary Mavericks breaks. The actual wave breaks over a
mile out at see and it was a really nice day with hardly any swell but it was
still crazy to be there where, with the right conditions, a monster is
unleashed.
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Somewhere far in the distance it breaks. And we even found the original Mavericks sign by Brainwaves... |
We drove
through Pacifica, where Don stayed while he was up there and then arrived in
SF. Don took us to the Twin Peaks from where you can see almost the whole bay
area and pointed out a few landmarks like Guantanamo, the bridges and downtown
for which his experience as a tour guide came in very handy. After we had
enough of the view he took us to the Golden Gate Bridge, the thing I was
looking forward to most in SF. We got a good look from the south side before we
drove over it and saw it from the north side :) Don also took us to Sausalito,
a small town for the rich people and tourists and to oceanside, the headland at
the north side of the bridge from where we watched the beautiful sunset and the
Golden Gate Bridge immersed in its golden light. On the way back we got a bit
lost on the highway before we arrived at Lombard street which is the street
with the most bends in one block in the world (this one steep section has eight
tight hairpin turns in one block). We didn't see very much because it was
already dark but we drove down the road which was an experience by itself.
We drove
past the docks and the famous fishermans wharf with all the tourist attractions
and had dinner with Don at a nice Italian place that made very good pizza.
Bekki had contacted a friend, Deedra, whom she had met on a party in
Eckernfoerde (she was there for an exchange) and asked if we could stay at her
place for a while. Aftre dinner Don drove us the where we said goodbye to him.
He was a really good host and had done so much for us and I am really glad that
we met him.
Deedra
was very nice, she had set up a bed in their living room and we fell into bed
early after that long day with so many new impressions.
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Downtown and surroundings |
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from the south... |
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...the north... |
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...and the west. |
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Not my own pic but it shows the street nicely... |
Hey Tim, I loved reading about Don, the hut tub and Mavericks. No wonder you haven't got your passport application in with all that sightseeing and cruising around.
ReplyDeletelove the photos of you and Bekki...
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