Duration: 16 Days 15 Nights (Feb 24~Mar 11, 2015)
Day 12: A Scorching Day in Santa Cruz
Boss was in the mood for some sightseeing today and Santa
Cruz was the destination. It was around an hour ride from San Jose and our GPS
led us into the mountain again. *facepalm* We drove past some small town and
lots of forest area before reaching the scorching hot Santa Cruz.
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| No English Muffin today - Such travesty!!! |
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| Sammy is ready for Sightseeing! |
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| Endless Trees along the Way |
We parked at a random parking area at some shop and they
charged us USD20. Don’t bother to park at these places – there were actually
some cheaper parking (USD12-15) or free parking further away. The lot we parked
was right opposite Monterrey Bay Exploration Center. It was free admission but
we didn’t really go explore and continued on to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
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| Free Admission! |
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| The Monterrey Bay Exploration Center |
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| Our Parking Area |
The road to Boardwalk was the typical Californian Beach
side with palm tree, bikini girls, muscle men and all *Cue Katy Perry’s
California Gurls*. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk was basically an Admission-Free
amusement park right on the Beach. The best thing was you could walk around the
park without any admission ticket and snap all the pictures you wanted. You only
pay when you want to get on a ride.
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| It's a HOT HOT Day! |
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| Should've left the jacket in the car! |
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| Lots of Palm Trees |
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| and Flowers! |
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| Some Cute Building |
Thus all of us became snap-happy even though the sun was
basically roasting us alive! The weather here did seem to be complete opposite
of San Jose. We did not go on any ride since we were too ‘old’ for that but one
thing that attracted me was the colorful ‘Sky Glider’. Wish I had the chance to
go on that one.
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| Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Map |
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| Let's go! |
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| Hmm.. this is too Scary! |
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| The Wharf at the back |
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| What is that Colorful Thingies on top? |
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| Fright Walk? Too Frightening! |
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| So Cute!!! It's the Sky Glider! |
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| Flintstone? |
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| Castle? |
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| More to go! |
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| Oh Dear! |
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| Sammy wanna take a pic! |
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| Old Style Bridge at the end... |
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| The Walk to the Sea... |
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| More Flowers, anyone? |
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| Roller Coaster! |
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| Or just take a Selfie! |
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| A View from the Beach |
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| Another View from the Beach - Love the colorful Sky Gliders! |
We then proceeded to leave the Boardwalk to continue on
to the Santa Cruz Wharf. There were lots of muscle men & bikini girls
playing beach volleyball along the way. *whistle* The Wharf was out at the sea and
there were lots of sea lions sunbathing near the area. The Boardwalk also
looked spectacular from here.
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| Walking from Boardwalk to the Wharf |
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| Hot Guys alert! |
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| Sammy at Santa Cruz Beach! |
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| Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk from the Wharf! Amazing huh? |
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| Mine! Mine! Mine! |
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| Sea Lions! |
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| Hiding in the Shade... |
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| Playing together? |
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| Looking out to the Sea |
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| Yachts & Surfers! |
We were quite hungry by then thus we stopped to grab the
seafood fritters from a takeout counter. The fish & calamari were just
edible but nothing to shout about. After that we proceeded to walk around the
area and left Santa Cruz. In case you have the chance to visit Santa Cruz, don’t
leave so soon! There are still many spots to visit such as Mystery Spot & the
Lighthouse. We did not visit those places this time though.
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| We need some FOODsss!!! |
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| Deep Fried Calamari & Fish with Fries! |
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| Wow!!! |
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| Some landmark at the Wharf |
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| Walking away from the Beach |
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| Nice Houses! |
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| Love the Views with Palm Trees, Clear Sky & Sea! |
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| Let's take a Picture! |
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| Here is another end of the Old Bridge again |
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| Apparently it has a history! |
On the way back to San Jose, we stopped at an unnamed
lookout area which also happened to be a trekking spot. The scenery was indeed
beautiful with all the greenery and clear sky.
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| The Trail to nowhere? |
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| Breathtaking huh? |
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| Perhaps we should have a picnic here? |
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| Or not? |
We made another impromptu stop at Saratoga town which happened
to be on the way. We simply walked around the village square and area
surrounding it and marveled at the quaint atmosphere of the small town.
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| The Saratoga Village! |
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| Walking Along... |
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| The Square Village |
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| All the Old style Building |
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| It's a Quaint little Village |
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| Inside San Jose! |
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| A bit European Style? |
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| This looks like a Building from 20s movie.. |
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| What else? Flowers! |
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| Signs on Historical Houses |
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| This is one of them.. |
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| A Memorial as well... |
We took a short break after reaching Fairfield Inn and
took off to Westfield Valley Fair again for dinner. This time I ordered the
Super Duper Burger again but with a fried egg on top as recommended by
internet. The verdict? I still prefer the plain old cheese burger as the fried
egg actually made eating the burger difficult due to the thickness. =P
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| Snack during the break! |
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| Dinner! |
We all went crazy for Tsum Tsum at the Disney Store
before calling it a night.
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| All the Tsum Tsum we bought! |
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| These are MINE!!! =P |
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