Family Fest Day 5: hanging out in Santa Cruz

Our fifth day of the Family Fest was bittersweet--it was the last day my sister and her girls would be with us here in our own stomping grounds, as we were planning on spending our final day together in San Francisco.  So we pretty much relaxed that day, just enjoying being together here at the house.  But of course, while the grown-ups re-packed, I had to take the cousins back to the local beach for one last soak in surf and sun. 

And when it was time for our last local adventure, we headed out to the heart of Santa Cruz.  We stopped at the Trade As One boutique--nothing better than seeing in person the beautiful handmade things--and  Marianne's Ice Cream--really yummy local place with lots of great flavors (I love getting one bittersweet chocolate scoop paired with a scoop of either lavender or green tea--mmmmmmm).  Then we made the West Cliff Drive along the Bay from the Santa Cruz Wharf to Natural Bridges State Park, where we lingered a moment just for the views.

(No wonder surfing is so popular here--not only does Santa Cruz lay claim to Jack O'Neill, who first marketed the wet suit, but this is also where surfing was first introduced to the continental U.S.--as I learned from this sign during during our sight-seeing.) 

Our final destination that day was the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, made famous by this movie from my youth:

Oh, we thought this movie was so cool.

So, those of you who have seen The Lost Boys--all the amusement park by the water scenes were filmed at our very own Boardwalk.  And it seems the movie has remained popular with following generations, because my niece Emily had seen it with her friends.  This is a mild horror movie, for those of you not familiar with it, but even thought I have seen it a dozen times or more (yes, we thought it was that cool) I gladly confesss that I have never the scary/gross parts, thanks to a talent I developed during slumber parties--"selective screening" (i.e. knowing when to put my hand in front of my face and just watch the edges of the screen, since everything scary/gross typically happens right in the middle).  So, I admit, it was kinda fun to be able to say to Emily, "And this is where Kiefer Sutherland rode his motorcycle down the stairs!"  and "This is the carousel!" etc.

(In fact, the wonders of the Internet will allow YOU to have the same vicarious thrill!  Click here to see the first moments of the film, which lay the setting for the film and show you exactly what I am talking about--watching it just now I can't believe the movie is almost 30 years old--it is aging well.  Oh, and there is nothing scary or bad in this clip--just fun views of Santa Cruz, including the very Lighthouse Park where I took pics of that surfing sign.  Oh, and yes, Santa Cruz is weird, although not as overwhelmingly so as the movie clip suggests.)

So, here are the best pics from our evening, which was really, really fun.  The night we went was--not coincidentally--"cheap night," so all the rides were a quarter of the normal price.  Whoo-hoo!  We were only going to stay until about 9:00 p.m., because we knew we had a big day of sightseeing ahead of us the following day and wanted the little ones rested--but we were having so much fun and the little ones were so happy and acting fine that we shut down the Boardwalk at 11:00 p.m.!!!  I hate my kids being up late for no reason--but this was just the right kind of night to throw the normal parenting out the window.

I love carousels, and this one let me ride on the same horse as Smiley--this is just when I was getting him on.

The Pirate Ship ride--Happy's first time being tall enough to ride it.  The way she and Merry look in this photos would be traumatic to me as a mom if they were not so hysterically funny.  Don't worry--they came off the rides smiling and wanting more!

Look, Emily, it's the bridge from that one scene! 

Smiley still smiling at waaaaaaaaay past his bedtime.

It was sad to know this was our last night together in our town, but good that we had one more day of family adventures left.