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| Main street of Santa Cruz |
Opps, didn't realise I hadn't posted this yet.
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| Surfer at Santa Cruz |
Thursday we travelled from Yosemite to Santa Clara, where we
were staying. Our route took us past a Panda Express so we had to go in for
Lunch. We stopped off in Santa Cruz to observe the hippies and surfers. The
surfers weren’t doing a lot when we started watching them but eventually one of
them caught a wave and a few more followed.
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| Santa Cruz - waves |
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| Sea Lions at Santa Cru |
Yongbom and Diana have a friend at
University of California Santa Cruz so we stopped in and had a look around the
campus. We made it to Santa Clara and met Diana’s parents for a meal at a Thai
restaurant which they kindly paid for. I’ve only ever had Thai in Oxford, which
was always too hot. Here they are quite happy to adjust for your tastes. My
ginger beef was yummy with no chilli or hot spices at all.
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| Succulents at Santa Cruz |
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| Just in case you were wondering this is the view from the back of the mini van! |
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| Bay Bridge |
The next day we bundled into the car and headed to San Fransisco.
We had a brief stop at the bay bridge before continuing to Pier 39. Diana
showed us the public toilets which clean and sterilise themselves after every
use! On Pier 39 we watched the Sea Lions for a bit, basking in the sun, and snapped photos of Alcatraz. We walked through the stores on the Pier and contemplated where to have lunch. On our way to eat Diana realised a band were setting up to play. They were high school students from Tokyo. So we stopped to listen for a bit. Lunch was at Boudin at Fisherman's Wharf. Where some of us partook in the traditional sour dough bread bowl with clam chowder soup. Ivar’s in Seattle is also famous for its clam chowder but I liked this one more because it actually tasted of seafood not just cream.
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| Alcatraz |
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| On Pier 39 |
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| Student Band playing outside Hard Rock Cafe |
After lunch we strolled to Gharhidelli square. This is a chocolate factory, you get free samples from the shop. The free chocolate gave us the energy to climb up to the top of Lombard street (the curviest street in the world) and meander our way down it. Next stop was China town for cheap postcards and I also bought a nice print of the Golden Gate bridge.
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| Lombard Street |
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| China Town |
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| China Town |
The Golden Gate bridge was our next stop. We took some photos then before crossing over the bridge again took a deliberate detour and looked over the bridge from the other side. Time for a quick sketch then a quick walk in Golden Gate Park and then it was back on the road home. Dinner was Cheesecake factory with 30
th Aniversary cheese cake for desert – yum. Unfortunately we had to wait 45mins for a table, which meant it was 10pm when we left. But it did give us time to wander in the mall where I found a lego factory. You can actually buy individual bits of lego and lego people which is what I did for my nephew.
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| Golden Gate Park |
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| Golden Gate Park |
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| Lego Shop! |
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| On Highway One back to LA |
Saturday we traveled back to riverside. We stopped at the Old mission in Santa Barbara which is a monastery for the Franciscan order. The missions were set one days journey along the coast so that Friars could travel coast sharing the Good News. We also stopped off at Westmont College, which is a Christian College. An interesting parallel and contrast to a monastery. Yongbom and Diana also know some students here. It has absolutely gorgeous grounds and we spent a while looking around whilst Colin and Jenny watched the baseball game that was going on.
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| One of the Friars |
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| Westmont College |
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