Santa Cruz

Sunday, following "Wine Weekend", we drove a scenic 1 1/2 hour drive along the coast down to Santa Cruz- to visit Dion's college friend Johnny Little, wife Andrea, and their precious daughters: Isa (Isabelle) and Anna (Annalie). Lucky for us, a meteor shower was lighting the sky that night. We viewed the spectacle on one of the many acres of park land, not far from their house, with one of his friends setting up a high powered 80x telescope. Not only did we witness a couple vivid streaks that arched half the sky, but we stumbled upon an astronomy lesson- viewing Pluto, a few notable stars and even a galaxy.

In true "Johnny" style, the next day, we experienced the gorgeous area and Monterey bay on bike. After the guys did a bit touring on their own- riding miles of trails through Redwoods on and around the Santa Cruz campus, Christy joined to ride along the jagged coastline. We saw up close, for the first time, the sparkling blue bays nestled in the rocky coast, and found how cold and intimidating the Pacific waves can be relative to the gentle Miami-Atlantic.

In less than two days, we were able to catch up with a great friend and his family. Through pedalling around town and the coast, driving through the heavily forested Santa Cruz campus and of course through the local food, we also got a glimpse of the "quintessential California beach town". We couldn't help but frequent the little Tacqueria Johnny introduced us too more than once on the short visit! Their soft tacos, white cream covered tamales and homemade nachos were so good and reminded us what a melting pot of cultures our USA really is.

Johnny, with his two darlings, Isa (pigtails) and Anna

Monday night, we took a walk down the main street in Santa Cruz, stopping for some Ice Cream.

John and Dion riding Monday morning, through Santa Cruz Campus and a park overlooking the ocean.

Biking along the Pacific coast

Johnny is getting psyched for the next big wave, while Christy is getting out of there.

This water is cold!