Where the hell is Tim?: Time with the Don: Santa Cruz and a day full of San Francisc

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.

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.

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.

The kelp forests of Monterey

Lazy seals

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.

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.