Biking In Santa Cruz

Mum and I have started making all our "One day we'll go" plans happen. Every other Wednesday we have been planning a trip. This past Wednesday we biked from the Santa Cruz Pier to Natural Bridges and back. It's not a long ride, but there are a bunch of things to see and the views are great. Below you can see the "To Honor Surfing" statue. It is close to the surfing museum, which is housed in a lighthouse.

I think the most epic picture I took was this one of Mum biking. I was behind her, hanging onto my bike with my non dominate hand, trying to make sure Mum was in the frame, all the while avoiding bumps and people. (Not pictured: the bumps and people I was avoiding.)

Someone had left this nifty piece of art on top of a trash can. They took an aluminum can and cut dolphins out of it. There was also a whale tail and a seaweed sculpture. But I found the dolphins the most impressive.

After biking, Mum and I headed to the end of the pier to go to the Dolphin Restaurant for cups clam chowder and a sandwich. I had the crab melt.

Mum had the open faced crab sandwich. She had said she wanted a salad, but agreed to try out the sandwich instead. (We often will share half of two meals so we can try out more of the menu.) I told her that she ended up getting the salad she had wanted. There are slices of bread under that mountain of food, so it is technically a sandwich. We were both pleased with our decisions.

And I had another wonderful day of exploring with my Mum.

Natural Bridges

After a meeting, Mum and I headed over to Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz. Around this time the monarchs are in the eucalyptus grove. The sun was setting when we got there, so the monarchs were all going to "bed" on the branches. We plan on going again when it's warmer.

Lucky for us, there is also a little milkweed garden by the visitor center. It's been awhile since I've seen a monarch chrysalis. 

And this poor monarch was nearby. I think she got a bit too cold to fly after sipping on some nectar. You can tell it's a girl because there are no black spots on the bottom wings. Males have scent spots.

If you turn right rather than left into the grove, there is a little pond. Usually it's clear, but this time around it was really green. And you could hear the ducks eating. They were just nibbling the water. 

I thought it was just algae, but when we got closer we found that the green color appeared to be coming from a bunch of green seeds. Weird.

As the sun set, we stopped in the little vista point to watch. Mum remarked how when she was a child there was more than one bridge at Natural Bridges. There is still one left, although it is eroding away as well. So if you haven't been, it's worth making a trip out.

Mum and I also got a bunch of good pictures for my next hat release, which should happen by Sunday. Hurrah!

It's A Mystery

My buddy Alina and I went to the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot yesterday. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I really had a lot of fun. (That guy behind me laughed at Alina and I while we took jumping pictures. I think he was jealous of all the fun we were having)

At the center of the mystery spot, you truly lean about 17 degrees and it feels upright. I even closed my eyes to see if I could right myself, but in order to not fall over, you really have to lean. Check out Alina's ankles. Definitely leaning.

There are multiple demonstrations on how distorted gravity is there. In this demonstration, the board appears lower on the right hand side. But when the guide,Ned, put a level on it, (which Alina checked out) the board was level. When the tube of chap stick was put on it, the tube rolled upwards. Weird.

Taking Summit Road To The Summit

I've got another week of camp to go, but I drove home to do laundry, which has given me time to write a little something. The day before camp started, a group of us decided to bike over the Santa Cruz mountains. It's a 30 mile route and there is one hill that was so steep that we slid while walking our bikes up it.

And the bikes took quite a beating. The locking mechanism on Travis' bike's high gear shifter gave up part of the way through. Lucky for him it was stuck on 1st and not 3rd.

Two miles from the end, Matt's chain broke. We didn't have the right tool to fix it. So he and Chris walked the rest while Travis and I finished the ride. (Travis had to be at camp to get CPR certified, so we had to finish quickly)

We took the route that Chris and Matt had taken the previous time they biked. Apparently they got a bit lost the previous time. I loved how they were able to figure out where we were this time. Sentences such as, "I remember this part, this is where we had a fight" and "This is the spot where I lied to you" were uttered.

I am proud to say that I was in the best shape of everyone, so I wasn't all that sore at the end despite having done the same ride the week before. (It was a little harder this time though.)

I'm hoping it won't be too long before I get to do the ride again. It really was a lot of fun.