Week Two In Santa Cruz

It's hard to believe that we've already spent a full two weeks in Santa Cruz. Just like our first week, we spent a lot of time in the climbing gym. Here's some other things we did too.  

Monday: 

• We survived possible carbon monoxide poisoning as mentioned in a previous post and spent the rest of the day recovering. 
• We did manage to make to the climbing gym in the evening and get in a good workout with Becky. 

Becky bouldering

Projecting a V2

Tuesday: 

• We hunted for paczki (polish donuts) in celebration of Fat Tuesday. These are common for Michigan, but it turns out they are not a California tradition. Brandon was highly disappointed. 
• In our hunt for the paczki we discovered a place called The Buttery. They didn't have paczki, but they did have some amazing looking sandwiches. We purchased two delicious sandwiches and enjoyed them on a picnic on West Cliff. 
• We made vegetarian enchiladas subbing our normal chicken with quinoa and black beans and they turned out to be delightful and filling. 
• For the weekly viewing of Bachelor we trialed Trader Joe's Truffle Brownies. They were good, but still not as good as the Ghirardelli ones. 

So many donuts, but no paczki. So sad. 

Sandwiches by the sea

Wednesday: 

• We recovered from our busy Tuesday by having a pretty chill day. We did head to Pacific Edge to secure our lead belay certification and do some bouldering. It's so busy at the gym that it will be nice to have the certification to allow us to use some walls that are lead only instead of top rope. 
• Becky had a rough day at work so instead of hanging out with a bunch of other people to watch a climbing video the three of us just hung out at the round house. We made an experimental caramelized onion and fennel pizza and enjoyed a few beers together that we had brought from Michigan. It was a wonderful night of living life together and real friend conversation that made it our favorite time with Becky thus far on the trip. 

Thursday: 

• Brandon and I explored the sights on Highway 9 and Highway 1. We had driven these on our last visit to California and Brandon had particularly enjoyed driving the winding roads on Highway 9. We stopped several times between Davenport and Santa Cruz to walk the coastline and appreciate the views. 
• In the evening we had another fun night at the climbing gym with Becky. Though our arms were starting to feel several days of climbing in a row. 

Appreciating the coast along Highway 1

Ruggedly beautiful

Coastal farmland

More rock formations including one with a carved out archway

Peering over the edge

Fields of flowers such a bright yellow they made our eyes hurt

Friday: 

• We got some errands done around town and caught up with some friends via phone calls. 
• For dinner we used a strange assortment of vegetables from Becky's CSA to make a minestrone soup which we also shared with Brianne and Carl. 
• All of us went to Penny Ice Creamery for dessert where we tried flavors like Mandarin Shortbread and Cardamom Pistachio Chocolate Chip. 
• From Penny we walked down to a bar called The Poet and the Patriot to see Johnny and Krista (known from climbing at Pinnacles) play in their four-person folk band called Bread and Water. At the show the circles of friends from the climbing gym and Mission Springs all intersected. It was a cool community event for sure. 

Bread and Water

Saturday: 

• Becky and all her gal friends and I celebrated Galentine's Day with a brunch. What is Galentine's Day? It began with a TV show called Parks and Rec. The main character, Leslie, declared February 13th to be a day to celebrate gal friends and dubbed it Galentine's Day. You can probably google it for more information. Many people have started to celebrate it!
• After Galentine's brunch, Brandon, Becky, and I went for a walk at West Cliff. As we walked Becky tried out her long board. We also came across and wandered through the Migration Festival celebrating the monarch butterflies. Again we were able to watch surfers in action. And, most excitingly we saw a couple pods of dolphins in the bay!
• For dinner we tried out Taqueria Michoacan which Brandon deemed to have the best chorizo tacos in Santa Cruz thus far. Becky and I thoroughly enjoyed the vegetarian burritos as well. 
• Brianne, Carl, and Sarah met us at Discretion Brewery for some tasty beer. Uncle Dave's Rye IPA was our favorite. 
• We ended our night with a movie called Baby Mama at Brianne and Carl's place featuring both Amy Poehler (appropriate choice for Galentine's Day as she plays Leslie in Parks and Rec) and Tina Fey. 
• Brandon swung by the round house to pick up a snack before the movie and discovered a raccoon in the kitchen. We think it pried open a ground-level window that we left unlocked. Luckily it ran out on its own accord. The adventures with this place seems to never end.  

Galentine's Day brunch

West Cliff coastline with surfers and a dolphin

Amusing caricature on the sign

Mmmm. Tacos. 

Discretion Brewery

Sunday: 

• We were able to go with Becky to her church and meet more people in her community there.  
• For lunch we went to Cafe Brazil which has really good food. I call it the "Brazilian Marie Catrib of California", which is high praise from me. 
• We spent some time soaking in the sun and cooling our feet in the ocean at Seabright Beach. 
• We went climbing at the gym for a couple hours despite feeling lazy from our big lunch and lounging at the beach
• To end the day we fixed our own sweet potato and black bean taco dinner and watched Parks and Rec together 

Acai bowl at Cafe Brazil

At Seabright Beach

More bouldering

Whew! It was certainly a busy week, but a good one. Only one week left. We're pretty sure the time is going to fly by.