Just can't get enough of...

California. Apparently that is where we take most of our vacations. What could be better when it is so close? Beautiful weather & coastal views. We love the sound of the ocean, the relaxed atmosphere, and walking along the beach. Just somethings you don't get in Arizona, but we don't mind it gives us something to look forward to on our travels.

The end of September we were able to go to northern California. We spent just over a week there. The first 4-5 days were spent in Santa Cruz, which is about 1.5 hours south of San Francisco. It was just me and the kids while Bryan was in San Francisco on a business trip. We had people question us on what I would do by myself in Santa Cruz for a few days. I thought really it isn't that hard to figure something out; it sure beats staying at home with the kids. The kids and I had a blast exploring the town together. The next 2 days or so were spent with Bryan in San Francisco. Then we spent a day driving the coast to get to Anaheim, where we went to Disneyland. (San Francisco & Disneyland will be in the next 2 posts)

In Santa Cruz, we were able to stay at Donna's home by the beach. She lives about 1/4 mile from the beach, can't beat that. We did a lot of walking around town & the beach.

The first full day in Santa Cruz, we walked down to the beach. Colby didn't want to get in that day despite it being fairly warm. We drove around the town to get a closer look at where we were staying, cute little coastal town.

Later we walked along Lighthouse State Beach. They had these amazing cliffs with gorgeous views. I couldn't believe how many surfers were out there. The tiny little black dots in the water are all surfers, it was unreal. The water felt like ice cubes.

Back at Donna's house. Colby LOVED the toys there. He just kept wanting to come back to the house to play with the toys. He kept putting these little bunny ears on Carson. While we were at Donna's house, Carson learned how to cruise around on the furniture!

Colby jumping around the house acting like a bunny.

The next day we went to church and drove around the town. In the evening, Donna & Bernie had us over for dinner. I forgot to pull out my camera and take a picture. We had a wonderful evening with them.

On our 3rd day in Santa Cruz, we checked out the famous boardwalk (view from the wharf). It was so busy when we drove by it on the weekend, but now it was Monday and it was like a ghost town.

The end of wharf in Santa Cruz. Colby is looking under the pier for sea lions. The view behind him is where we walked on our first full day. I absolutely loved all of the lighthouses and bridges. One of the lighthouses had been turned into a surf museum. We did a quick peek the other day.

Enjoy lunch at the end of the pier while watching the sea lions swim and seagulls fly around.

On the wharf, we found these stairs that had access points for boats. They took us down below right to the sea lions we had been watching. I think watching these sea lions was the highlight of Santa Cruz for Colby.

This is a video of the sea lions we saw. I could believe if we stuck our hands in the gate we could have touched them, don't worry we didn't.

After leaving the boardwalk & wharf, we drove south to the cute town of Capitola. We walk around the shops and then Colby decided he wanted to play at the beach. We drove over to a beach down the road from where we were staying. It was right by the harbour so we watched the ships sail in and out. We ever saw 2 sea lions swimming in the water in front of us. Colby only got is legs wet but he loved playing in the sand.

Colby mimicking Carson crawling in the sand. At first Carson didn't want his knees touching the sand. Last time we went to the beach he wasn't crawling yet, so this was a new experience for him.

loving the sand

Carson just kept wanting to eat the sand. I finally distracted him where he stopped eating it.

On our final day in the Santa Cruz area, we went to Cowell Redwoods, an old railroad bridge in Felton, Natural Bridges State Park, and walked around the coast part of Univ of Cali (SC).
The picture above it at Redwoods State Park. It was amazing that we were only minutes from the coast and there were massive trees all around us.

Colby having fun in the redwoods visitors center.

In the visitor's center, Colby was given a little book that he stamped animal tracks on. On our hike, he walked around searching for all of the animals. It was a little spooky since it was only the 3 of us and a little dark. He kept saying mom do you see a bobcat? That was one of the 6 animals on his tracking book. We did end up seeing 2 deer and a ton of squirrels, but no bobcat!

check out how huge this tree trunk is

Colby has a flashlight and is ready to explore the roots of this tree.

On our way back to Santa Cruz, we passed a fun little park. We stopped and played at it. It had an old historic bridge.


kids on a cool swim

At Natural Bridges State Park. We walked around and saw the beautiful rock bridges in the ocean and saw a few monarch butterflies. They migrate ever October here, we missed it by a couple of weeks. They also have tide pools to check out, but it was definitely high tide when we were there.


Where the tide pools were at. The water was coming all the way to the cliffs.

Colby loved the bones outside of the museum on the campus

His favorite animal bones were of this blue whale. He actually listened to me read the information about the whale and he told his dad all about it.