I love how long this trip summary is taking me. I still won't finish today, but I am making progress. Maybe I'll try to make them shorter, so it goes quicker, we'll see.
Day 3: We drove from the old growth redwood forest to China Town in San Fransisco. Those trees are spectacular, by the way. They seem to hold wisdom. That may sound funny, but when I look at them, I think of their wisdom. I tend to personify inanimate objects, because that's the way I am, I can't help but feel that way.
San Fran was fun. I always enjoy driving over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a foggy day, which was a nice relief from the heat we drove through. Neither Danny or I have air conditioning in our cars, and that can get to you after a hours of sweating. I looked up in the sky as we crossed the bridge and it looked as if it was never ending because you could see the top of the bridge. I told Danny it looked like it was going up to Heaven.
SF (I am abbreviating more and more) was a little chaotic for the mood I was in at the time. I couldn't help, but think, 'what's the point?' When I looked up at all the huge designer store buildings. 'When all these people are struggling is it really that important to have a louis vuitton handbag?'
I'm not without my flaws, but these thoughts do come to mind.
I enjoyed looking in the shops in China town, and noticing most carried the same merchandise. We headed on, looking for a place to eat, and were very strongly urged by several Chinese women to eat at their restaurant. Heads up: I don't tend to respond well to being pressured into something, in fact, it makes me want to steer clear of the source of whatever is trying to pressure me.
So, again, we headed on to find a more gentle Chinese women who encouraged us to eat at her restaurant. We looked at the menu, and chose to eat there. We had been eating camping food minus the steak, so this was a huge treat for us. We ate pork buns, Chinese broccoli and beef, and string beans with prawns and steamed rice. I thought it was wonderful, and Danny thought it was good. We differed on what we liked best. He really enjoyed the pork buns, which don't really do it for me. They're a little to much bun and not enough pork. I loved the prawns with string beans. I don't get prawns that much because they're expensive, but boy do I love them!
After SF, we drove to Santa Cruz, where my parents were staying, and arrived at 10pm. We took a shower and slept on the ground of the motel. That shower sure felt nice. We were thankful to have a place to shower in the middle of our trip.
Every year my parents stay at Terrace Court in Santa Cruz. It's right on the board walk, and it's cheap, so they keep going back. My mom loves that you can fall asleep listening to the ocean. It really is in a great location, but I would not tend to revisit year after year. Who knows, maybe I'll feel that way about a place someday.
Day 4: We drove to Big Sur with my parents, and took a short little hike there. The main hiking spot was closed off due to a fire. There was a beach cove that was blocked off to people going down, to preserve it, but you could look at it from above (pictured). Danny and I thought it looked like a fun spot to live, we could use the waterfall as our shower. We would just have to get rid of all the tourists :)
We went to Los Palmos for dinner, a small Mexican joint right by Terrace Court. The food is good at a good price. We ate outside, and enjoyed everything, including the questionable behavior of local Santa Cruzer's. By questionable behavior I mean, people walking slowly in the middle of the street yelling about this and that. Ummm...I'll actually stop there because I am not sure who all reads this, and some things would probably not be appropriate to say.
Danny hadn't been downtown Santa Cruz since he was younger, so we drove there. It's within walking distance, but we have had encounters with people at night, so we chose to drive at night from now on.
By the way, the "Keep Portland weird," bumper stickers started in Santa Cruz. Except theirs said, "Keep Santa Cruz weird." And they have.
We got out of the car and a tall white guy with a glazed over look came up to us, and asked if we had a cigarette. We said, "no." And he replied, "Is it because I'm Asian?" and walked on. His dog followed behind him with a leash tied to his neck dragging the man's luggage on the ground. We all couldn't help but laugh. One he's white, not Asian, and two, there was just an oddness of watching a dog dragging the mans belongings on the ground.
We perused the Santa Cruz bookstore, which has to be one of my favorite bookstores, if not my favorite. It's titled Bookshop Santa Cruz. They lay the books out in a way that invites you to read them. There are recommended books by the staff that give little summaries from a real person's perspective. What I mean by real person, is that you know they're standing right behind the counter and if you want to clarify something you can ask.
They actually have places to sit. Fun places to sit. Being from Portland, we have our beloved Powell's, but there is almost a discouragement from sitting and reading for an extended period of time. Which is understandable because they're trying to SELL the books, but I am thankful for the bookshops encouragement to read.
I think that will be it for today.
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