family road trip part 3: santa cruz

casa de fruta train
she loved this caboose!
at the pier looking at sea lions
a family shot!
at the lighthouse playing with daddy
at the forest of nisene marks state park
After leaving great grandma and great grandpa's house, we drove 3 1/2 hours to Santa Cruz. We made a pit stop at Casa de Fruta and Kalia loved the little train and caboose. It was very difficult getting her away from the train and back into the car seat for the rest of the long drive.


We finally made it to the Super 8 motel we were staying at and walked to the boardwalk and pier. The boardwalk rides were all closed since we were there mid week. We were maybe a little disappointed at first, but then realized that the only ride we probably could have taken Kalia and myself on was the merry-go round. We walked out to the pier and could hear the hundreds of sea lions from so far away! We had a great time checking out the sea lions and sat down for our first bowl of chowder. We ended up having clam chowder every day for 4 days -- and I wonder how I gained 4 1/2 pounds in 10 days! Kalia loves chowder too!

We headed for downtown Santa Cruz that night for shopping and dinner. Kalia was definitely a little overtired at this point and we finally headed home for bed. Erik got up early every morning and had his own little cruise around time while Kalia and I slept in. He went to check the surf by the lighthouse and later that morning, after checking out we headed up there for a little walk. Was all had fun playing around the lighthouse area and looking for sea otters.

On our way from Santa Cruz to Monterey we stopped at the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park for a little picnic and a short hike.