Sunday, September 7. Day, 126
Enjoy the Journey
Pacific Coast Highway: San Fransisco to Santa Cruz
This is one of those unassuming drives that turns into a daylong adventure!
The drive from San Francisco to Santa Cruz is a little over an hour on the highways, and closer to 90 minutes taking the coastal route.
With no agenda for the day and nowhere to be until 6pm, my leisurely drive took 7 hours! This is what it’s like to take my time getting somewhere and “enjoying the journey.”
On road out of San Fransisco apple maps kept trying to send me inland. If I wasn’t paying attention I’d have ended up on some 8 lane highway 50 miles from the shoreline. Thankfully I noticed and adjusted properly!
My first stop was breakfast, at a taco bell of all places. Mostly because it was right there and had a big parking lot. But also because I noticed surfers on the beach and wanted to take a look. Interestingly, this taco bell had a separate full bar, and beer taps at checkout. California really is different.
Driving along the coast I stopped frequently to watch the surfers.
Frustratingly, most of my camera gear was still stowed well out of reach - a result of being overly cautious parking in San Fran.
For most of the day I made due with my iphone and my 35mm film camera that had escaped being packed into the deep recesses of the van.
Looking out over the Pacific Ocean as I drove was endlessly beautiful. Far off on the horizon was a bank of low clouds forming what looked like a wall. Flat-earthers were excited to see the exact place where the edge of the world was!
Partway into the morning I figured out why apple maps kept ignoring me and re-routing; there was a road closure along the shore down by Santa Cruz. I saw a road sign warning of the closure, and that it would be in effect until 1p. That was a good excuse to be even more leisurely in my drive.
Several times in various blog posts I’ve mentioned ‘procrastination paying off’, but I don’t think that’s the right term. Rather, most of the time I’m not in a hurry to get somewhere. I take my time, and occasionally the relaxed approach works out well. Other times it doesn’t, but in those cases I just roll with it.
Today the lackadaisical approach worked out to help me avoid the road closure outside Santa Cruz.
The cliffs along the coastline were stunning and for a long while I was looking for a place to pull over and take pictures. Fortunately I found just the right spot, where the ocean met a huge cliff wall, and hung out for a while. It was a beautiful clear day and the water was a deep aqua-turquoise. It’s said that mid-day sun isn’t good for photography, but the light on the water was glorious.
There were pelicans flying back and forth alone the shoreline, and after a bit some surfers ventured out into the waves.
I went back to the van for the 35mm camera and some film. Shot a roll and then went back again and swapped out for a longer lens. There was thick bramble I had to make my way through that scraped up my legs going back and forth.
Still worth it.
At the van I dug out a 70-210mm lens that I was using for the first time on this trip. Then went back and photographed the surfers, the birds, and ocean for a couple hours. Shooting 2 more rolls of film and unlimited iphone pics. Enjoying my time until 1p when the road opened back up.
Continuing down the shoreline I stopped here and there to watch more surfers or just to gape at the beautiful water. I saw a group of kite and wind surfers, and lots of people enjoying one of the last days of summer on the beach.
I also stopped for a big cup of fresh watermelon! One of the perks of being in California is all the fresh produce.
Along the way were several lighthouses and I finally stopped at one named Pelican Lighthouse to take photos. It was as advertised and there were lots of pelicans! Also a couple old VWs and a beautiful view of the ocean.
The lighthouse itself was under renovation and not very photogenic.
At the lighthouse I met a young woman just getting into film. I saw her shooting on an old Pentax and I asked her about it. Then we nerded out about photography for a while. Ironically I had just put my 35mm camera away and finally dug out my digital.
My new friend mentioned that she hadn’t shot any B&W yet, I gifted her a roll of Tri-X 400 to try out.
When I got back to the van I realized I looked like a hippy-hobo! Props to her for being open to chatting with a weird old guy.
Getting close to Santa Cruz I realized I didn’t have any more buffer for stops, I was meeting my friends for dinner at 6p.
Turns out, I had all day to get there, and still ended up 10 minutes late!
Mostly because I didn’t factor in time to park and walk over.
Oh, parking.. I parallel parked on the street, in front of a Lamborghini! And was super careful not to bump into it.
Meeting up with these friends in Santa Cruz was a last minute thing. My high school friend Sunshine messaged me on fb asking if I was going by that way. I wasn’t planning on it, but had time for a side quest and thought it would be great to see her and her husband. I knew him in HS as well, but only cursory. He’s better friends with my brother.
It’s fantastic that Sunshine and I have kept in touch enough that she reached out to ask if I would visit, and I in turn was excited to see her. Has anyone else driven all the way across the country to visit their high school girlfriend decades later?!
We met up at a nice seafood place on the wharf that they picked. I had clam chowder- which I’ve never had before- and an excellent crab cake sandwich.
After dinner they invited me to come with them to a local park. On the first Sunday of the month they do fire spinning by the lighthouse! (The lighthouse was also on my list of places to see!)
Fire spinning is amazingly cool, and fun to photograph! I dug out my 50mm f/1.8 lens for that, the second lens that day that I used for the first time on the trip so far.
But first, the full moon was rising across the bay and lots of people were at the lighthouse to watch it. However, the giant wall of cloud at the edge of the earth got in the way. Though we did get to see it eventually (yet, briefly, before more clouds swallowed it back up.)
Sunshine’s husband Sean is excellent with several different fire spinning apparatus and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him and a few other people do their thing. I took a crapload of pictures - which I’m still going through and processing. But there are a few highlights to share.
Finally wrapping up the long day, I found a neighborhood nearby to park the van and had a peaceful night!
Good: Today is the kind of drive I live for! Direct route from San Francisco to Santa Cruz was a little over an hour away, the route along the coast was 30 minutes longer.
It took me 7 hours to get there. Stopping any and every time I wanted.
Bad: Apple maps frustratingly kept rerouting me inland. Even though I selected the coastal route.
Unexpected: Watching and photographing fire spinning at sunset!
