Santa Cruz! (By Josh)

Well, the drive out of LA followed nicely with my description thus far, an inefficient mess but all part of the LA experience. After about a hour or so of battling traffic we were able to hit he Interstate 5 and head north. I was pretty excited to hit Santa Cruz as my cousin's Matt and Christy live just outside and though I've met them we just haven't had a chance to spend enough time together to get close. One thing I notice with age and I think watching the way other cultures around the world embrace everyone as family, blood or not, I really wanted to connect with them. The drive became pretty mellow after about an hour north of LA and the traffic gave way to rolling forests.
We ended up getting into Boulder Creek which is cottage country just a short drive outside of Santa Cruz. It has a very similar history to that of Langford in Victoria, or the Beaches in Toronto, you can run and hide but eventually the city just grows into you. Though Boulder Creek still retains a charmingly rustic and quaint appeal, it has now become a suburb in the trees for those lucky enough to have snagged a property. You have he best of both worlds,the sweet smell of thick forest and clean air but the the close proximity to the trendy little city of Santa Cruz or, if inclined, drive an hour further to the ever so legendary San Francisco.


We had trusted our GPS "Gail" (I really have no idea why we named her Gail?) and she has been great. She made navigating nothing but an address away!
So, darkness upon us, we were up in the hilly forests outside Santa Cruz under 20 minutes away from Matt and Christy's house and we admittedly decided to screw up Gail's seemingly perfect record. We noticed we were low on gas and though we could have
made it to their house and probably to a gas station the next day, we entered in "nearest gas station" as a via point to their house. It of course just seemed like the right thing to do to avoid worry later. Big mistake! Gail was either suffering from exhaustion or just didn't like remote forests but she got us lost up in the hills with eventually no more houses to be found. We were beginning to worry as the gas meter was below empty and she had gotten herself(and us stuck with her!) damn lost. So we made our way back to the spot where we first distracted her and re- entered Matt and Christy's address, Gale shook off her failure and got us there in minutes. Lesson: Do not interrupt a genius at work!!! That indeed was her only moment of error and we still trust her immensely:)


We arrived happily and to put it mildly, we felt like part of the household in minutes. Matt and I are second cousins who have met only a few times in my life but after just a few minutes(literally!), I felt like we had seen each other every Christmas. We had a great time relaying our trip adventures and learning about their life in Boulder Creek. Their two boys Rider and Zane were absolutely terrific and the first morning we were lucky enough to watch Rider play basketball in a league game. It felt nice to be amongst family, and after such a wild and dynamic trip where your brain is often in overdrive watching a basketball game felt so relaxing. And Rider played great!


After the game Matt and Christy took us to the mystifying and nothing short of spectacular California Redwoods! Everyone knows these triumphs of nature have legends that follows them around. Well, they truly are legendary. What really amazes me is the fact that they share glory with some of the other historical sites we have seen on this trip, such as Ephesus due to the fact that many of these trees are 2000 years old! Furthermore, it can take 40 people holding hands to wrap around the circumference of some of them! We even saw one redwood trunk that acted as a hotel room in the old west!


During this trip we have often thought of historical value as it applies to man made structures(we have seen some incredible ones!) but it was really quite fascinating to add mother natures magnificent donation to the list.
The sheer size of the trunks left an imposing print in your mind and the thought that they have weathered through thousands of years of earthly hazards( including that of humans) made you tip your head with respect.
Evolution has been kind to them offering them such beneficial mutations as a bark that is unattractive to most insects. We were fortunate enough to pick up a friendly park guide who was full of Redwood trivia and who proved to be a fun addition to our group.


After our spectacular redwood experience we picked up Zane from baseball practice and headed to Santa Cruz proper for a bite to eat. We hit a fantastic little Mexican place that Matt and Christy loved and chowed down. The food was indeed tasty and by the line out the door we knew early on that would be the case!

We then headed down the street to buy Rider a baseball helmet where we had the interesting but mostly sad experience of encountering what I will just assume was a mentally ill war vet. With all the talk in the states about ill equipped veterans health programs this was a frightening example. As we exited the sports store Zane had been savvy enough to notice a man(who by all accounts looked homeless) rambling to himself and asked his Dad to accompany him to the car to grab some things. We all walked towards the car with Zane and within seconds the man became loud and belligerent. What startled all of us was not so much his profanity and volume(he was full on yelling) but that it was directed right at us and was indeed yelling about his time in Iraq and how he had killed people and no one understood.


It was a sad example of what may have been( if indeed he really was veteran) the system failing him and the full capacity of the true casualties of war. I was impressed on how Matt handled it just simply saying "we appreciate it, thank you" and we all walked away.
We then headed down Santa Cruz's beautiful beach and enjoyed a stroll along the waterfront which had striking resemblance to Victoria's Dallas Road water front. Modest cliffs gave way to the sea below with waves crashing and surfers cashing in where they could. Matt and I chatted about surfing spots and he let me in on some of his favourite surf haunts as well
as a few stories from his more "surf obsessed" years. He was pretty modest but rumour in our family is he was/is in the top 5 surfers in all California! I'm hoping the Saunders family will make the trip to Victoria and some pro-pointers will be in the horizon!

We then headed back to Boulder Creek for a relaxed night of playing UNO and enjoying an incredible meal made by Christy. It was the perfect night to end the perfect day in such a sweet little part of California with a part of my family that are now good friends.
We visited the night away until we could all barely keep our eyes open and wished we could have stayed longer.
But alas, the next morning came and we packed our things and took Matt and Christy's advice of on a great part of the number 1 to hit as we headed home. Home, it seems like such an abstract word to say after so much time on the road. So many places we have been have felt like home and Matt and Christy were just another example of how home isn't so much a place but the people around you and your state of mind. Peace:)