It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Yup, that about sums up our stop in Santa Cruz.

I don't want to Debbie-Downer this whole post, so I'll get the bad news over first so we can go back to woopin' it up.

First off, there's a bit of a rough edge in Santa Cruz...as in waking up both nights to the sounds of someone trying to jack our bikes off the back of of the RV. Luckily, they were no match for Spiderdad's complex lock system or Spidermom's shrilling threats out the window (wonder twins power, activate!).

Secondly, I spent more time than needed here:

I have now been crowned the new Shark Bait of the family, stealing Bobby's hard earned crown (I'd pageant wave if I could lift my arm).

Me vs Angry Closeout Wave, landed Spidermom with three cracked ribs, a small break in the hand, and a nice little bleeder in the lung.  But the silver lining is I caught a great ride right before it happened which is far more memorable than the Rib Crusher....and what the hell, it all makes for a great story right?

In better news, we've long since wanted to come to Santa Cruz to check out the skate scene...which did turn out to be pretty awesome....

And the bonus was the surf kicked up while we were there.  The famous Steamer Lane was well overhead and packed with pros and groms alike, just watching was an experience...

But you can't keep Spidebyte out of the water for long (unless you're bound in bandages and on Vicodin, at which time you become the team photographer)....

To avoid any further mishaps, the boys kept it chill and opted for Cowell's Beach instead, which was still barreling and plenty of fun...

We also spent some time checking out the local boardwalk, a little desolate on a stormy day...

Lovin' the old school arcade, especially since we pretty much had the run of the place...

It was bittersweet leaving Santa Cruz.  Despite the challenges we ran into, it was well worth the visit and probably one of the kids favorite stops so far...

But we had one very important destination left before we headed to San Francisco.....the legendary Mavericks!

For the past five years, our kids have watched Stacy Peralta's documentary 'Riding Giants'  more than most kids have watched any Disney movie.   They've spent hours glued to footage of Mavericks, watching the story of the young Jeff Clark paddling out for the first time, and the sad day Mark Foo was lost at this break.

And a big part of this trip was bringing the groms to see Mavericks for the first time...

It looked about 12-15' out there, not the 30'+ for which this break is famous. But you could defintely see the spot where the ocean floor ramps up to form these crazy wave patterns, something the kids have heard about for years.

And the bonus is that Half Moon Bay is a gorgeous place to hang out...

We would have loved a little more time, but San Francisco is the next stop and the lure of hot showers and modern plumbing is just too strong to ignore.

SF here we come!

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[Jane Allen Tougas]

For the first time in many years, I am speechless!
xoxoxoxoxox