Purely Santa Cruz

Alright friends, you've been waiting for the full story on Santa Cruz correct?

WELL HERE IT IS!!!

DAY ONE

We left at 4 a.m. and after we drove through L.A. with literally trash raining on us, we approached the dirty country with the first signs of sunrise!

We were afraid that the dark blanket of clouds that veiled our what should have been blue country sky, would keep us from seeing the sun rise after three hours of darkness.

But what do you know! We ended up watching the sun rise through a break in the clouds.

Puffy clouds, to the west

I think this right after going through the Grapevine

Oh yes, i drove all the way there :)

And drove...

And ended up not staying on the 5 because of being slightly

 distracted by other things...

 

It was worth the detour though. 

Im pretty sure we drove through the land of cherries

We passed two of these little cherry stands.

After the first attempt, James snapped the shot and the 

photo came out exactly how i had 

pictured it :)

We had finally arrived to Santa Cruz! We were greeted by two friends of mine, Krista and Taylor who were currently residing in an old church with 11 other people. 

My good friend Merv arrived shortly after we got to there.

We decided to take a walk down to the boardwalk.

a few "errands" had to be run, and another Santa Cruz friend 

jumped on the bandwagon!

We had to wait for her for a bit but thats alright!

Photo op with Merv!

Shootin' the shat.

Robo niko boto in acionato.

Straightening out that back.

The Boardwalk!!!!

6 tickets : Fireball

Waiting for our turn on the Fireball. Unfortunately, 

someone with a weak stomach had to ruin it for us and 

puke their brains out resulting in 

the sutting down of the ride.

:(

So we got ice cream! 

I got a chocolate covered banana with nuts.

They didn't have rainbow sprinkles.

We finally got to ride the ride and the guy running the ride 

let us ride it for such a long time!

And no one ralphed!

"We rode the Fireball!"

:D

Smokey window craziness.

DAY TWO

This actually happens right before the photo with a yellow rose.

James getting DOWN on that sandwich.

Only the highest quality for our sandwiches.

  

You cant see it but these are hobbit huts. 

I think they were called hobbit huts.. or was it forts?

Anyways, forts made of a bunch of branches lodged between trees.

Huge tree that you climb.

I started to climb it, but decided not to go all the way.

Next time i will though.

  

The trail that The Awesome Michael Chunka took us on after 

venturing through the forest.

"When i was a young girl trying to find my way above the tree tops...

the tree tops, the tree TOo0O0ops"

"I did not care, I did not care what they called me, 

what they called me"

Trail leading to meadow.

I spy campus through the trees.

I think this is after an epic journey to the ground, made

by a human-being climbing trees.

I was very impressed... :)

We had to kill some time, so we once again headed down to the boardwalk.

Couldn't pass up on this one.

Those hands are small and chubby!

The best ice cream ever. 

I had never had such an amazing swirl of ice cream touch my 

taste buds in my entire life.. 

The wind was blowing so hard,

we had to sit with our backs facing the wind.

It was pretty difficult keeping the ice cream clean

of sand.

On the way to the grassy knoll, we passed a few deers just chillin', eating grass like nobody's business.

"Tall grass means ticks"

From the mountains to the ocean...

DAY THREE

Goodbye Santa Cruz

Taking a last look at my collection from L.A. to Santa Cruz.

Con-trail in the sky.

Not to be confused with Chem-trail.

This cemetery was packed full with tombstones.

(Look further into the background)

Hand and my shirt.

Im not sure..

But i like it.

A few photos taken by both James and I on the way down.

The way down on the 1.

I am infatuated with the entire coast of Big Sur. 

I especially find the rock formations 

in the water..

amazing.

Take a look. My 30 dollar parking violation.

Which i will be paying tonight.

PT Cruisers always ruin everything.

Or do they make it?

No they ruin it.

Im not sure what's going on... but whatever it was..

It was good.

One of the lovely cobble stone walls.

Elephant seal beach.

It was REALLY REALLY windy.

Complete chaos trying to get back to the car. 

Im telling you.. it was REALLY windy.

It was an amazing trip.

With amazing people.

-Nikole