Day 6: Rolling into Santa Cruz

 

My Aunt Stacie and Uncle Don picked us up Wednesday morning and we headed south for their home in Santa Cruz. We stopped along the way to visit a yarn shop, and eat lunch and gelato. The gelato was super delish!

 We have arrived in Santa Cruz!

 Don, Me, Stacie
They are so cool.

 We are standing in front of a large whale in case you couldn't tell.

Obviously not a real one.

 #1 reason why Stacie and Don are cool: You can walk to the beach from their house.

THE BEACH!!!!!!

 #2 reason why Stacie and Don are cool: They shop at the farmer's market.

They had the most delicious plums I have ever tasted!

Then if was time for, you guessed it, more food! Two nights of sushi in a row about did me in.

 Tom was nice and gave his second dum-dum to a homeless guy on the street.

At first glance this may just look like someone's dirty laundry, but apparently it was a piece of artwork. What the? California is weird. And just take a look at their crazy gas prices . . .

Sadly, this wasn't even the most expensive we saw while out there.

Californ-i-a: Day 5

On Day Cinco we decided to take a trip up to Muir Woods to see the redwoods. I can't believe I've spent so much time in California and never seen them! The walk through the woods was absolutely gorgeous and very peaceful. The pictures really don't do it justice. It was wonderful to be among some of God's most majestic creations.

These trees are so huge.
As you gaze upward to find the treetops, you feel so small.

Me and my Uncle Steve

Does anyone else think Tom's plaid on plaid is just not working?
He won't listen to me. :)

Tom talked Steve into leaving the path to get a picture in this tree. It was so funny to see him sneak up there. I think he looks like Tarzan in this picture!

After Muir Woods, we drove to Stinson Beach where we ate  lunch. It was a little windy, but still nice to get our first good glimpse of the ocean. Tom and Steve entertained themselves by feeding the seagulls some of our potato salad.

Then we drove up to my uncle's hang-gliding launching site on top of Mount Tamalpais. 

Here is the beautiful view from the top . . .

Back in 2006, Steve took me and my cousin, Mandy, hang-gliding at this sight. We launched off of this mountainside and landed right on the beach. It was sooooooo amazing!

After arriving back in the city, we took Tom for a drive down Lombard Street. . .

 

That evening was our big surprise! We picked up my Aunt Josiane from work, but they wouldn't tell Tom and I what they had in store for us. We drove down to Union City, and once we got close, they told us both to close our eyes, and they led us into the building. Lo and behold, they had arranged for us to go indoor skydiving!!!! I was a little freaked out at first, until I realized that there was no real falling involved.  For those of you who don't know (cause I didn't) what indoor skydiving is, just let me give a brief explanation: There is a tube 12' in diameter that you enter into with an instructor with kind of a mesh floor beneath your feet. Far below that, are giant fans which blow air at you up to 180 mph. You're given instruction on how to position your body for optimal flying results, and suited up with a suit (duh), ear plugs, goggles, and a helmet. Everyone in your group takes a turn in the tube for a time period of one minute (which seems a lot longer while you're in there). We all rotated through twice. The coolest part was the last 30 seconds when the instructor took us way up into the tube with him. I'm guessing we went up 25-30 feet!

Suited up and ready to go!

If you have never gone indoor skydiving, add that to your bucket list as well. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done. Tom absolutely loved it! He did really well too.

We couldn't stop smiling the whole time (which, when accompanied by 100+ mph winds blowing in your face, results in you drooling on yourself and the instructor :) )!

After our flight experience, we went out for Sushi! You can't really see in the picture, but there was a little "moat" in front of us where the difference kinds of sushi would float by on little boats. If something looks good, you just grab it off the boat and then pay at the end based on the different dishes you ate. It was pretty fun. And Tom discovered that he loves Sushi!

A special thanks to Steve and Josiane for their generosity and hospitality!

We got so spoiled and loved spending time with you guys!

Day 4: California knows how to party

Day 4 of our California adventure took us into the city: the one and only San Francisco. It was Tom's first time, so he was taking pictures like crazy.

My uncle dropped us off at Pier 39 so we could walk around and hang out until it was time for our 3:30 tour out in the bay.

 

Tom and I walked around and looked at all the little shops along the pier (to include Houdini's Magic Shop where we purchased some fake dog poo for my sister! More on that later.)

Then we enjoyed some fish and chips on the pier while watching these sea lions.

     

ALCATRAZ . . .

It wasn't until later in our trip that I found out they don't keep prisoners here anymore! (Now it's just used for tours, which I have no desire to take.)

They had all kinds of Alcatraz paraphernalia in the gift shops. I still think Tom should have bought the scrubs with the black and white jail stripes. Haha. Just kidding.

We also got to watch some pretty sweet street performers. . .


This guy played the guitar, the harmonica, and sang while playing the drum set strapped to his back by moving his arms and legs around. It was pretty impressive!

These guys paint themselves silver and stand so still they look like statues or robots. Seriously, you can't even tell they are breathing. It's amazing. Tom thought they were quite entertaining.

My first experience with these guys was when my Nana took me into the city when I was 5 or 6 years old. This one guy was painted a copper color, and I seriously thought he was a statue. I went up and approached him and much to my surprise, he moved! I think I was pretty scared.

We should have given this guy some money. I still feel kinda bad about that.

Then began our eco-tour of the bay! Woohoo! We boarded a catamaran called the "Kitty Kat" (isn't that a cute name?) and began our tour. I was a little nervous about getting seasick, but had no trouble at all. The ride was so awesomely awesome!

We sailed out underneath the Golden Gate Bridge and had some amazing views. . .

Tom and I got as close to the front of the boat as we possibly could. At one point we hit some pretty large wakes from other ships out in the bay.
I got a little too close to the edge and this was the result . . .

One of the joys of having glasses.

We were able to see lots of different wildlife such as birds, porpoises, and kite surfers.

The kite surfing looked pretty sweet. But I doubt I possess the upper-body strength that would be required for the sport.

The captain of the boat even spotted spray from a Minke whale at one point, but we were on the other side of the boat and missed it. Bummer!
Apparently, Minke whales (pronounced "minkey") are pretty elusive, so the fact that one was even spotted during our tour made me feel quite privileged.

My aunt and uncle met us down at the pier after our boat tour and we wandered around some more as we searched for a place to eat dinner; crab to be specific. We found a cool place right on the water which had delicious food and garlic-roasted crab. Prying out the crab meat was kind of tedious, but it tasted so good! 

After dinner, we walked to Ghirardelli Square where we indulged in ice cream sundaes!
(Yep, more eating!)

What better way to end a great day?