A Santa Cruz Saturday
It was an absolutely gorgeous day here on Saturday so nothing would do but a trip to the beach. In January. Try not to hate me too much. Remember, one day a giant earthquake will strike the Bay Area and wipe us off the face of the map. In the interim we go to the beach. In January. Ha.
Santa Cruz is a relatively small college town, very liberal and very laid back. One brewery we stopped at had a Bush Countdown Clock included on the Daily Specials page. Santa Cruz has a lot of cute little beach cottages like this one, built in 1892. This tiny home is included in the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a "traditional beach cottage." That's the blue National Trust plaque on the far right.
This elderly gentleman was uhh ... skiing on the sand. He was holding cross country ski poles and kind of whooshing down the beach. I'm not sure if sand skiing will ever become an Olympic sport but he seemed to be enjoying himself. The blur in the background is fog which didn't start to burn off until around 3:00. Santa Cruz is a VERY foggy place.
Here is our obligatory lighthouse shot. This lighthouse had a very disappointing horn, it sounded like something from a Honda Civic. It's a fairly new lighthouse, having only been completed in 2001. Obviously they don't make 'em like they used to.
This picture is for the Samurai Knitter,, aka Julie, who knows everything. Well nearly everything. I want to know what these big concrete things are. Obviously they're now the breakwater for the lighthouse but what the heck were they before? Here's another picture ...
Anyone?
Santa Cruz is a relatively small college town, very liberal and very laid back. One brewery we stopped at had a Bush Countdown Clock included on the Daily Specials page. Santa Cruz has a lot of cute little beach cottages like this one, built in 1892. This tiny home is included in the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a "traditional beach cottage." That's the blue National Trust plaque on the far right.
This elderly gentleman was uhh ... skiing on the sand. He was holding cross country ski poles and kind of whooshing down the beach. I'm not sure if sand skiing will ever become an Olympic sport but he seemed to be enjoying himself. The blur in the background is fog which didn't start to burn off until around 3:00. Santa Cruz is a VERY foggy place.
Here is our obligatory lighthouse shot. This lighthouse had a very disappointing horn, it sounded like something from a Honda Civic. It's a fairly new lighthouse, having only been completed in 2001. Obviously they don't make 'em like they used to.
This picture is for the Samurai Knitter,, aka Julie, who knows everything. Well nearly everything. I want to know what these big concrete things are. Obviously they're now the breakwater for the lighthouse but what the heck were they before? Here's another picture ...
Anyone?
posted by April @ 9:44 AM
6 Comments:
At 11:21 AM,
Julie said…
They're giant cement caltrops for alien landings. (Oh, go look up caltrop, it's a good joke.)
No, seriously, they were probably cast for just that purpose and didn't have a previous use. They look pretty new and unabused. I'll ask the husbeast what he thinks when he gets home. This is more his deal, what with the engineering stuff and the Navy and all.
The beach in January. I miss that.
At 12:05 PM,
Anonymous said…
I don't hate you (too much) but I am extremely jealous!
At 3:06 PM,
Julie said…
The husbeast came home and said that yes, those are cast specifically for that purpose. They supposedly were designed in that shape to automatically interlock when they're dumped.
...and to save us from alien invasion and Godzilla.
At 3:37 PM,
Anonymous said…
Great pix...felt like I was there in the sunshine. Not here in the snow.
At 3:46 PM,
Anonymous said…
Great photos. You're going to have to give me this tour when I come to visit.
That old guy sand skiing is from Vermont. Don't ask...
At 3:55 PM,
Anonymous said…
Until today, I knew NOTHING about Santa Cruz. Now I know something and I like it. I wanna go there.
I used to live on the coast. Those block things are fun to climb on! We had them too.
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