Santa Cruz - dude.

Originally posted July 3rd, 2008.



Photo courtesy of Trevor V.

I watched the Pride Parade on Sunday, but ended up missing a part of it; Trevor had trouble crossing Market Street. And so did I - I was stuck at Kearny and Market and trying to figure out how on earth to cross Market. I missed Cyndi Lauper (one of this year's Grand Marshalls), BUT one of the guys on the Bud Light truck... A dead ringer for Anderson Cooper. Sans shirt Oh, John Barrowman was doing his thing at the Pride parade in Toronto, ON. OMG!

Photo courtesy of Trevor V.

My friend Sarah and her family drove into town, got stuck in traffic, and missed the parade entirely. (With kids she figured it was easier to take the car instead of BART. And after having heard of her adventures on the Parisian subway I completely understand her decission.)



 
I got my first cupcake (unfortunately the make-it-yourself part is gone) and a stack of CDs at the "V"-store. (Avenue Q!) Trevor and I went to see Wall-E later that evening, which is actually nothing like Johnny 5, and funny. Great entertainment. Interesting to see an animated movie with hardly any dialogues and two robots with human traits convey something humans around the world understand. 





Dinner's served! *nom nom nom*




 
The next day Trev and I did a cruise around the bay (yes, I am such a tourist), made a quick stop at Trader Joe's (I like this store) to pick up something for lunch, the aquarium at Pier 39 (got some great pictures), went to see the Painted Ladies. 

Photo courtesy of Trevor V.
Photo courtesy of Trevor V.
Photo courtesy of Trevor V.


Then we were off to Cupertino, CA to meet Toby. He's a bigger puppy than I thought, but very friendly. (I think he wanted to kiss me.)
After a quick walk around the block we took the Highway 17 bus to downtown Santa Cruz, where my friend Sarah picked us up. Apart from a quick breeze through Saturn, to get a drink, I didn't get to enjoy a meal. I'd hope to next visit. I got to sleep in so I was fit to spend the day at the Boardwalk (and the beach) with the Meltons. (Sarah: The turkey and apple sausage was rather good!) Both her kids are well behaved: Laura is quite the chatterbox and Travis (the youngest of the two) is shy and adorable, and I'm sure he's going to be a heartbreaker in a decade or so. I also befriended the house pets: the dog is utter cuteness with its big puppy eyes



and the cat was rubbing me like crazy, like it was in serious need of some petting. Even my black backpack got a healthy dose (was that because it still smells of Sheba?)



The sun was shining, I was in great company - life is good. Travis, Sarah, Trevor and I rode the carroussel as Laura and Joe took a spin in one of the bumper cars (if only my arm...). I tried garlic fries (they're quite good) and later on Trevor and I went for a walk. We initially planned to go to the lighthouse, until we saw the tide was coming in (see the pic below). We got inked instead - for fake! (Yeah, that's crouching tiger and hidden dragon for ya ) Trevor and I went for a walk at the end of the day; he wanted to show me the sea lions. Unfortunately, we spotted only two.

Photo courtesy of Trevor V.
Photo courtesy of Sarah Melton
 
Joe (Sarah's husband) cooked us steaks, haricots verts and corn on the cob. It was good, but the size of the steak was a bit out of my league. We played a simple but fun card game called "Guillotine" after the kids had gone to bed, and when Sarah fell asleep on us Joe and I had a good talk about all kinds of things. The next day we drove to Redwood State Park, walked a trail, got a few great shots (unfortunately, I got no pics of squirrels), and drove to Brookdale (Sarah and Joe wanted to show me the place where they got married - the place is supposed to be haunted, but unfortunately I didn't sense anything out of the ordinary). Then it was time for me to go back to San Fran to be in time for the ballgame. 

Photo courtesy of Sarah Melton



Photo courtesy of Sarah Melton

Sarah was kind enough to drive out to SF. We met up with Trevor and headed to Isotope, an incredibly cool comic shop on Fell St. Propietor James (who recommended "Chow" for a meal) and Matt (who promised me two plastic comic sleeves, and is currently reading Echo #4) were working. Then it was time for Sarah to drive back to her family, as Trevor and I headed for AT&T Park for the ballgame. 





The Chicago Cubs have been playing well this season. And yes, the SF Giants lost. My friend AJ from Chicago called and it was nice for her to hear the Cubs were winning. Apparently, they lost the night before. It was nice to hear her voice again, and I asked her if she would move to San Fran with me. She didn't have to think about it; she replied she would. The spectacular post game fireworks was obscured by the fog. Still had a lot of fun, though

Photo courtesy of Trevor V.