Beaches, Redwood Forests – Santa Cruz Has It All
If you don’t happen to have time to tour the whole state of California, we found a place that roughly seems like a microcosm of the state. You have your beaches, your surfers, you r Redwood forests and, just an hour away, one of the state’s largest and most cosmopolitan cities.
Give up? Try Santa Cruz. Built along some of the Golden State’s most scenic coastline, this city gives you many of the state’s famous attractions in one easy-to-drive area.
Mountain Bike Kids Camp
We were amazed, for example, when we topped off a morning of beach sightseeing with a exiguous seven-mile drive up to the sleepy town of Felton. roughly right away we were taken from a bustling beach town to a forest so thick you could hardly see straight through the trees. It’s no wonder that the famed “Bigfoot” was spotted in the Redwoods not too far from here, and that today there is a Bigfoot Museum beckoning both the provocative and the amused.
Huffy Disney Cars Scooter, Red/Black, 6-Inch Review
Huffy Disney Cars Scooter, Red/Black, 6-Inch Feature
- Three-wheeled scooter for riders ages 3 to 5 (up to 60 pounds)
- Decked out in red and black racing graphics from Disney’s Cars
- 6-inch black polyurethane wheels
- Skid-resistant foot plate for safe footing, steel frame for excellent durability
- Adjustable handlebar height; includes detachable backpack
Huffy Disney Cars Scooter, Red/Black, 6-Inch Overview
Since its establishment in 1892, Huffy has been known for its tradition of producing innovative and high quality bicycle products. Since that time millions of people around the globe have enjoyed the quality and value of a Huffy bicycle and Huffy has become one of America’s most recognized bicycle brands.
Huffy Disney Cars Scooter, Red/Black, 6-Inch Specifications
Give your child a ride on the fun side with this Disney Cars-themed three-wheeled scooter from Huffy. The scooter is designed with tri-wheels for stability and balance, a skid-resistant foot plate for safe footing, and a steel frame for super durability (it holds up to 60 pounds). This red scooter is adorned with graphics from the Disney/Pixar movie, Cars, and is perfect for new riders to cruise around the neighborhood in style. It also features 6-inch black polyurethane tires, T-design handlebars with comfortable grips, and a bonus Cars backpack attached to the handlebars. This scooter is recommended for ages 3 to 5.
Available at Amazon
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 22, 2011 18:49:08
Fifteen minutes later we were back in Santa Cruz, enjoying the sweeping coastal views and watching as visitors and locals basked in the winter sun while enjoying lunch at one of the city’s many outdoor cafes. Most likely their menu choices included lots of fresh furnish ‘ apples, berries, spinach, squash, tomatoes, etc. ‘ as these and other fruits and vegetables are all grown close to Santa Cruz. In fact, there does seem to be a lot of attentiveness paid in Santa Cruz to diet and exercise. It’s hard to be unhealthy in a place where you can undoubtedly jog along spectacular ocean cliffs or hike the trails of a half-dozen area state parks.
If we were so inclined ‘ and we weren’t on this single trip ‘ it would be a uncostly day trip from Santa Cruz into the San Francisco Bay area. And that’s why you’ll want to allow abundance of time for your visit: there is something new every direction you turn.
If you have the opportunity, we’d advise a midweek visit to Santa Cruz. That’s what we did and, while it’s not exactly a ghost town while the work week, there do seem to be abundance of wide-open spaces to discover with exiguous or no concern about traffic. Santa Cruz motels and inns had big empty parking lots while this January visit, and we’re told all of that changes on weekends.
Our base of operations was the Hilton Scotts Valley, a good selection for travelers who want their lodging a exiguous ways away from the bustle of the beach. Scotts Valley is only a 10-minute drive to Santa Cruz, so it’s undoubtedly not at all remote. Yet this single hotel offers roughly double-size luxury rooms with all of the Hilton amenities and, we might add, some of the most courteous and helpful hotel employees we have encountered.
Driving into Santa Cruz, you first wind your way straight through the uptown area where it soon becomes apparent that this is a beach city in every sense of the term. Like many other coastal cities, Santa Cruz does attract down-to-earth non-conformists who, for example, don’t have any hesitation using hair colors that looked like they were chosen from a box of crayons. Think about your worst fashion bad dream for your adolescent kids, and that’s what you sometimes see on the streets of Santa Cruz ‘ which, of policy is part of the charm. You don’t tour just to see places exactly like home.
Out on West Cliff Drive, where the views from these coastal bluffs are painting-perfect, you encounter the surf crowd. On any given day, dozens of free-spirited surfers are paddling out to ride some of Northern California’s most provocative waves. Long, narrow concrete stairways give the surfers easy passage to the water not far from where the waves break. On the bright, sunny day we visited, maybe half of the pedestrians along West Cliff Drive were carrying surfboards.
Indeed, this part of Santa Cruz is Surf Central. There is even a small but informative Surfing Museum where we enjoyed finding at exhibits that information the decade-by-decade evolution of the sport. Housed in a previous lighthouse, the Surfing Museum includes lots of memorabilia and examples of distinct types of surfboards ‘ some so big and heavy that one wonders how the original surfers ever managed to get these things to and from the beach.
About a five-minute drive and we were back in uptown Santa Cruz. Just other few blocks out to the beach and we had arrived at the famed Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The roller coaster, thrill rides and buildings of the Boardwalk are an indelible part of the Santa Cruz skyline and visitors enjoy the nostalgia of visiting the West Coast’s only seaside boardwalk. The 75-year-old roller coaster is said to be just as thrilling as any of the newer ones, and that has been augmented by a host of other, more modern rides. Of policy there are the bumper cars, the carousel, the huge arcade and, uniquely, a broad and beautiful beach where you can sun yourself and, in summer, enjoy a dip in the ocean.
The Boardwalk area is only one of the many beaches and coastal vantage points in the Santa Cruz area. Just south of Santa Cruz, there are some scenic state beaches near Capitola and at La Selva Beach. You can carve out a few hours and take a scenic drive on north on the Coastal Highway wher eyou’ll find many more beaches along with Waddell State Beach. An provocative non-beach excursion takes you north from Santa Cruz on Highway 9 to the Roaring Camps compel where you can ride a historic steam train into the Redwoods.
Our own drive north on Highway 9 was short but productive. Not only did we get a look at Henry Cowell State Park with its towering redwoods, trickling streams and recreation trails, but we also had a opening to stop by the small, inconspicuous wood construction that now houses the Bigfoot Museum. Most days, proprietor Mike Rugg is watching the store all by himself and, no doubt, will be more than willing to share with you his many Bigfoot stories — as he did with us.
Understand that Mike has never undoubtedly seen a Bigfoot ‘ at least not that he can say with any degree of certainty. But he became convinced about the creature’s authenticity when he did a college term paper on the subject. While the professor gave him only a “C” on the description and dismissed his research as having as much ‘ or exiguous ‘ validity as a Ufo sighting, Rugg was undeterred.
Bigfoot is supposed to be a creature perhaps eight feet tall that resembles a gorilla and is said to roam remote mountain regions of the Pacific Northwest, Northern California and other locations. While exiguous scientific evidence supports the claim, there are hundreds of sightings reported and one grainy home movie that Rugg is convinced is the real deal. The Bigfoot Museum features a six-foot-high blowup of a frame from that movie and Rugg has numerous footprint casts and other items on display to help convince you he’s right. Since the museum opened in July, visitors have added many more sightings to his wall-size pin map showing just where Bigfoot has been spotted.
Whether it’s hairy creatures in the mountains or colorful creatures downtown, Santa Cruz offers a surprising range of curiosities and attractions that make it a unique destination ‘ a truly flavorful slice of California.
At A Glance
Where: Santa Cruz is on the California coastline in the middle of San Francisco and Monterey.
What: A particularly scenic area that offers many miles of scenic beaches, coast drives, state parks and several passage points to Redwood forests and parks. The city itself offers the West Coast’s only beachfront boardwalk.
When: Year-round, as temperatures are typically moderate. In winter, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is open only on weekends. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, it is open all week.
Why: Santa Cruz offers many distinct getaway experiences and visitor attractions in an area that is easy to navigate.
How: For more data on Santa Cruz, experience the Santa Cruz County discussion and Visitor’s Council at (800) 833-3494 or visit [http://www.santacruz.org]. For more data on the Hilton Santa Cruz/Scotts Valley, phone (831)-440-1000 or visit http://www.santacruzscottsvalley.hilton.com.
Beaches, Redwood Forests – Santa Cruz Has It All
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