Another travel day. We took our time getting up at the Sea Breeze Inn. We’d stay there again. Simple, clean, up-to-date, and a short walk to the beach.
We eventually continued up Route One and it was even more stunning than the previous days. The Los Padres National Forest and Big Sur area along the coast are an absolute delight. The route is slow as it is very wind-y, and there is some construction.
After many hours of driving we pulled into the Carmel/Sand City/Oceanside area and stopped for some food (Wendy’s and Chipotle). Back on the highway, we made our way up to our overnight at the Super 8 in Santa Cruz.
The hotel is a short walk from the boardwalk and is undergoing a renovation. Our room seemed like it had been recently renovated; like that morning recent. It was roomy, clean, and the decor was nice.
I only knew two things about Santa Cruz prior to arriving:
- When I was a young “thrasher,” there was a skateboard brand named after the town.
- Santa Cruz is what the town Santa Clara in the vampire movie Lost Boys was based on.
With skateboarding vampires fresh in my mind, Keke and I walked down to the boardwalk and eventually the pier. The boardwalk in Santa Cruz has a carnival/arcade theme, but we blew past that for a nice walk on the beach. Once on the pier we were on the hunt for a place to eat. Soren was in a Spongebob stronghold and my mom had half of her Chipotle left, so Keke and I ended up staying out by ourselves.
We met a very nice bartender named Evan at a place called Fireside on the pier and crushed their Salmon Briquettes and Parmesan Chicken. This may have been the best meal we had all trip, and Evan hooked us up with free dessert. There wasn’t a bad seat in the house at this place as we could see the beach/ocean from about everywhere, including from the bar where there was a glass wall that offered great view of the surfers in the water. We are trying to figure out how we can get back to Santa Cruz to come back to this restaurant.
We made our way back to the motel, full and happy. Soren and my mom had had a good night, and even though it was early relative to our typical evenings, we were all too happy call it a night.