My nephew had a football game scheduled at my high school alma mater in Felton, California (near Santa Cruz). My sister invited me to tag along and I couldn't resist. It was so nice to be have some one on one time with her. With our busy lives it's hard to even get good conversations in sometimes.
We drove to Santa Cruz the night before the game, checked into our hotel and walked to the boardwalk/wharf for dinner.
Dusty and I aren't sure why but the wharf and boardwalk were dead! We felt like we had the whole place to ourselves! We enjoyed dinner and drinks and even stopped into a bar on the beach on our way back to the hotel.
On the wharf, there were some stairs leading down to this platform that had sea lions on it. They were right there! They were maybe only 6 feet from us. We could have taken a ladder down to them but thankfully we're smarter than that. They just sat there looking up at us and making noise. They were so cute. It was a treat to just hang out with them and be so close!
My sister is so cute! I truly love her.
We got to watch the boys play football the following day. Poor Chase has an injury and didn't get to play much but I'm going to another game to watch him play.
Man, my old high school is gorgeous! While there I really thought back to how amazing my high school experience was. I lived among the Redwood Forests in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The beach was only a short 15 minute drive away. I spent my summers on the beach and boardwalk. We'd have a group of 30 of us spending our summer evenings enjoying beach bonfires. I don't think I ever truly realized how fortunate I was until now when I'm older and don't take things for granted anymore.
I briefly walked around and these images bring back so many great memories for me. It pretty much looked exactly the same.
While in Santa Cruz we visited one of the beaches. It was a gorgeous day with amazing views!
I was testing the lighting on my camera. It cracked me up when I uploaded the pictures and saw this super close up of my mug.
The best part was when I saw a spout of water shoot up and then saw a whale come out of the water. After a couple of minutes we saw another one and then another. There were so many whales out there and dozens of dolphins too! Apparently this is the season for whale and dolphin sightings. I was blown away at how many were out there! I'm definitely planning a weekend trip back next October because I could have spent all day out there just watching them.
During my younger days, I'd drive to the beach after school to take a run along the beach. It was nice because the waves would crash against the cliffs and spray me and cool me off during my run. Some of the boys in my class would drive into school in the mornings with surf boards on their cars because they'd get up super early and surf before school. What a life, eh?
My sis and I did some splurging. I got to visit restaurants I enjoyed 15 years ago! Can't believe it's been that long! Eeek!
This trip was so much fun!
That was a much-needed and super fun trip. Thanks for going with me! We made memories that will last a lifetime.
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