October 8, 2004
It was 4:15 am on Friday when the alarm went off reminding us that we were on vacation, and demanding that we start having fun! Our first day of fun would be a 7 hour drive to Santa Cruz, interupted by a stop in about 3 hrs at Santa Barbara to get Nancy a double cappachino at the Santa Barbara Brewing company, and then a big plate of carbs at Esau's cafe just across the way on south State St. That was our routine whenever we drove 101 north. It was built into the timetable!!
I drove. It was familiar. Early morning traffic allowed a smooth drive up the I-5 and the I-405 through the heart of L.A. before the rush to work would clog the freeways with the 7 to 9 commuter crowd. The weather was nice, but with a fog bank off the coast north of L.A. reaching up towards Santa Barbara, shrouding the line of oil rigs from north of Zuma up towards the Channel Islands. As we drove 101 past Oxnard and the Sun cleared the Santa Monica mountains it pushed the fog bank further west, and the oil rigs emerged from the sea like giant alien structures far offshore.
Besides our Santa Barbara stop, there was one more stop for gas, and we rolled into Santa Cruz in the early afternoon. Sara and her two roommates, rent an apartment a couple of blocks from the beach in Capitola on the east side of town. One of her roomies was home--so we settled in, and went out for a walk to the beach. Surf was up and there were a bunch of surfers trying to share waves. (I'm told that Santa Cruz was where the modern wetsuit was "invented", primarily for surfers to use in the colder water of Santa Cruz winter season.
We love Santa Cruz and planned on taking Sara's bed away from her for two nights! She is always willing to sleep on the couch. We bribe her by taking her out to dinner and shopping while we are there.
While Sara and Nancy went shopping downtown, I went fishing off the pier in Capitola for a couple hours--didn't catch anything but a bit of sun and some local color. I didn't see anyone else catch anything either. I think people fish there just to get outside, watch the gulls, and the sea lions.
Sara and her roommates had a color TV which was very inadequate. They did have cable, but the TV was only a 12" and didn't have a remote. So to change the channel one had to get up and go turn the knob. It was like living in the dark ages of TV dom. Not only that, I couldn't read any of the scores because the screen was so small. I promised them that on our return trip I was going to buy a new TV first thing so I wouldn't miss the World series and football games scheduled in two weeks. I considered that part of the bribe for welcoming us back there on our return. While I was there I also fixed Sara's bedroom lamp with a new plug and switch, and glued and refastened the trim that was loose on her Volvo. I also replaced a bulb in their outdoor light. It is nice to have a man around the house!!!
Oh yes, there was a good coffee house called Coffeetopia within walking distance that opened at 6 am, so I could get up early and drive over and read the paper. And Nancy could walk over later for her double Cappachino. Between the surf just a couple blocks in one direction and the coffeehouse in the other, Sara's apartment was all together a great place to spend the first couple of days of our trek to the Oregon Trail!
We planned to get an early start on Sunday morning with a double cappachino to go, and a goal of reaching Ft. Bragg on the Medocino Coast by mid afternoon.
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