Beach Bound Again

Written by: Mary

Less than two weeks after we got back from our trip to Carmel and Pismo, we were beach bound again! This time we were headed to Santa Cruz to go camping on the beach and to spend Mother's Day with my family.

We were fortunate enough to leave around noon on Friday, May 7th and arrived in Santa Cruz around 2:30 (after a quick stop in San Jose so PO could drop off some plans at a jobsite.) We had a reservation at Sunset State Beach, just a little south of Santa Cruz.

We got camp set up quickly and headed for the beach (which was just a quick walk down a huge staircase.) The beach stretched for miles and miles and we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves for the most part! PO taught me how to dig for sand crabs, something I have never done before! We sat out on the beach for about two hours until the wind started to pick up and I began to get chilly. We headed back to camp and poured ourselves some drinks, and went up to the top of the hill to watch the sunset.

We hung out at our campsite for the remainder of the evening, just sitting by the fire (which took a little while to start!) and chit chatting, listening to music, and relaxing.

We woke up early Saturday and went to our 'spot' overlooking the ocean while we sipped on orange juice and snacked on breakfast pastries. There's nothing like watching the waves crash while eating breakfast--my favorite way to start out the day!

We headed into Santa Cruz and picked up Shelly before running around town. We checked out some surf shops, then had a late breakfast at Chill Out (which has the most amazing breakfast burritos.) We stopped in at Irie Smoke Shop, and then hit up an antique store to look for chairs for Shelly's new dining table.

The rest of the day we spent hanging out with my family at Shelly's place (near the beach.) We cooked a Mexican fiesta, complete with homemade ceviche! 

We headed back to our campsite around 9:30 and tried starting a fire, but the wind and the cold, wet wood wouldn't cooperate so we just headed to bed early instead.

Sunday we awoke to cloudy skies and a weather forecast of rain so we packed up camp as quickly as possible. We headed back to our 'spot' to check out Sunset State Beach one last time, and we were headed out. We all convened at Shelly's house were we all got ready to go out for the day. First stop was Stagneros for brunch, a Mother's Day tradition for us. Then we walked around the pier and stopped in at a little touristy shop with sweatshirts, skateboards, and other "Santa Cruz" memorabilia. PO spotted a long board that he wanted. He had been talking about getting one for some time now and this particular one really caught his eye. The guys working in the shop talked him into it and 20 minutes later he was the grinning from ear to ear like a little boy who just got a new toy!

We headed downtown with the family and did our normal stop at O'Neills for some new flip flops, compliments of my mom! Here's a shot of the family and an example of PO's awesome photography skills.

This is one of my favorite family photos, just a random, impromtu moment captured on film. Can you tell it was windy?!

After a fun day hanging out with my favorite guy and my awesome family, it was time to hit the road back home to Lodi! We had a fun weekend at the beach once again!