The thing is, we started off with good intentions. It was Halloween so we figured we’d go down to Santa Cruz and see what we could get into. We loaded up the truck, rolled the back windows down for the dogs, and set off around noon. Santa Cruz is just a little over an hour away from us on the coast. Part of me can’t wait for the day when Trey says he’s had enough of working in San Francisco and we can buy a place in Santa Cruz to live. The town’s got that chill vibe, and we could live closer to the beach and raise our (hypothetical) kids surfing and skate boarding. There’s some good marine labs there too. But, alas…we’ve got a few years here before we can do that so I’ll just keep my day dreams to myself (and you guys) for now. Ha!
Santa Cruzin’
November 5th, 2015
So we got into Boulder Creek, a little town right outside Santa Cruz around mid-day and went up into Big Basin redwood forest to see if we could get a campsite for the night. When we showed up, it was the weirdest thing. People were decked out in costumes in the woods. We stopped to let a parrot and a chicken cross the road (adults in costumes) and looked at each other. We totally thought no one would be camping since it was Halloween, but as it turns out everyone was camping because it was Halloween. So we put our name on a waiting list, went and got some groceries at this local market, then came back to find that the only site available was next to the road and the bathrooms.
“I’m cool if you’re cool” Trey said to me. “Yea, I’m cool”, I told him, climbing back into the truck. It’s usually never hard for us to find camping spots since we just park the truck places. The national forests are easy for that, but the state parks are regulated and only have a certain amount of camp sites. Had we have known it was such a popular time to camp we probably wouldn’t have gone. We like having the woods to ourselves! So we turned around, stopped off on an overlook and ate chips and salsa on the tailgate, then drove back home. When we got back there were trick or treaters everywhere in our neighborhood. Turns out the street next to us shuts down for older kids (mostly middleschoolers) to trick-o-treat. The guy who wrote the book on Feng Shui decks out his mansion every year and the kids go nuts for it. So we got an uber and met up with friends for dinner and drinks at a good Mexican spot downtown. We ended the night having a laugh at putting Star Wars masks on the dogs. It was a random way to spend Halloween, mostly just driving in the truck, but it was fun just doing whatever and not really having any plans. I find that’s when we have the best time anyway. Can you believe it’s already November? When did that happen? Pretty soon it’ll be Thanksgiving and Christmas! Bring it on!