The Beach is THAT Way

Blog No. 122: Santa Cruz Day TWO

I walked Piper to the squiggle next to Porter College and the tennis courts. Piper took some really cool nature photos along the way, like the prancing deer, the statues, and the snap dragon path here.

We met up with Kaylah at the bus stop, where we took the bus to see her new living arrangements for next term. Inside, there is a good sized living room with a fireplace with a dining table near the sliding glass door. The living room leads to a very blue kitchen, where it's kinda closed off, but it has a little window connecting it to the dining area. Down the hall on the other side of the fireplace are Dan's, Beth's, and Kaylah/Terry's rooms. Dan's room has a wall dedicated to bookshelves, which I can see fitting Dan's personality. Beth has her little corner room, next to the bathroom, and across the way is the master bedroom with its own bathroom where Kaylah and Terry will live. Kaylah also showed us this view down the walkway from their place where you can see that you are on top of a cliff, overseeing Santa Cruz and the ocean. We could see the Boardwalk's Dropzone from her apartment! As far as first apartments go, this one is pretty awesome! I'm excited for you guys!

Terry took us to downtown to eat at Erik's Cafe and Deli, which is an awesome sandwich/soup place. They serve soda in mason jars, apparently, which was that much more awesome! Piper and Terry had this amazing tomato bisk soup and sandwiches of which I don't recall... I had what's called an Abbot's Habbit sandwich, which was just amazing! It might just rank up there with the Rabbiman sandwich. XP

Then we went to this quaint little chocolate shop in the middle of Santa Cruz... About 16 blocks up the hill, away from downtown... But still, they had chocolate cell phones, chocolate tool kits, chocolate turtles stuffed with mini chocolate turtles, and so on!

By bus: Chocolate shop--->Downtown

We walked to the beach, which was down the road from the Metro Center. I believe this was the high point of our trip, partly because it was the major reason Piper came in the first place. XP 

Piper and I walked to the water, barefoot and with rolled up pants. She walked to the water, while I just stood on the edge. I mainly complained on how cold the water was, which was cold, it was on the cold side of frostbite and on the warm side of an annoying, numbing sensation. We walked up and down the water's edge and found small shells. Piper took some random pictures of the beach and some silly pictures of me posing by the water. I indeed pulled off the Dustin Catchphrase ("The beach is that way, and the waves are THIS big!" pointing to the bicep on "this").

Kaylah and Beth met up with us on the beach, so we decided to head over to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Terry bought Kaylah a GIANT donut, which I don't really understand because she never eats solid food! (XP) I bought a churro, which is what I must always get at a theme park/carnival. Churros are truly an amazing fair time food. XD

Piper and I went to the Big Dipper roller coaster, which apparently is 60 years old this year... Interesting... Anyway, we got on and it first went through a tunnel. Piper really freaked because it was going fast and it was pitch black. Then it got out and starting climbing the first hill. The rest was super. Piper screamed her lungs out and I laughed meniacally. Kaylah ended up taking a video on Piper's awesome camera and she added her own little voice over commentary as the ride went up and down those arcs. As the ride ended, Kaylah pointed the camera to her face and yelled a "BYE!!!" which was just classic Blondie. Thanx! XDDD

Then we did the same thing on the Rock n' Roll ride, which was basically us going in a fast circle, then doing it backwards. While it went backwards, Piper and I did the Scooby-Doo wave. ~~~

The five of us then walked to the wharf, where at the very end there was an ice cream shop called Marini's. Sure it was a long walk, but it's worth it because they have a tasty selection of ice cream! 

Trust me, there's a worse picture than this, but it might be flagged as innappropriate. XP

I ended up getting a sundae, with 1 scoop triple chocolate ice cream and 1 scoop horchata ice cream. [Insert mouthgasm here. XDDD]

On the way back, we hit a souvenir shop, where Piper and I got some souvenirs for people. We also stopped halfway down the wharf for Piper to take awesome pictures and to look at the sea lions sleeping on the platforms along the side. They are really docile and lazy creatures if you ask me. XP

Then we watched Yes Man back at the dorm! (where I was unfortunately lulled into a deep, deep sleep...)

--->Continue on to Blog No. 123!