It rained during the night, surprising considering how dry and rocky our environment was. We emerged from our cozy little room amongst the trees, and had breakfast in Brent’s stylish kitchen. We saw him off to work then headed off on our bikes up the twisty road to the highway, then down into Santa Cruz town by the coast. It was a very tourist-y, Mexican looking town, with a huge theme park lining the beach. We eventually found a park and wandered down past the vollyball nets to the pier. Wandering along the pier we watched the sea lions swimming and napping underneath, and a big steady swell rolling in from the ocean.
Apon returning to our bikes 10mins late we found we had been ticketed… Both bikes in the same spot!! Pretty unfortunate so we drove to the parking office in town to try and get one of them revoked. As surely, only one vehicle pays for the one spot? We put our complaint in writing then carried on driving up the coast out of town. Nice sunny day, but windy. We had lunch in Davenport, then walked along the cliffs above the surf. We carried on driving to a Redwood State park, where we watched the kite boarders playing in the surf, then headed back to town where we washed our filthy bikes, and picked up some groceries. Had dinner with Brent and Susanne when we got home (dark already) and made plans to stay another day.
The next morning we got up to head to the farmers market with Brent. On the way we picked up his friend and daughter (Steve and Lani), and dropped our laundry off at the laundromat. Had breakfast at the market, chatting in the sun, saw Neil who I hadn’t seen in many years. We then went to visit the house Brent was renovating right above a creek through the trees. Such awesome little spots tucked away in the mountains here you’d never see. Steve was a great outgoing kiwi guy who insisted we had to try his ‘special beef’ this evening, and full of good stories. After dropping Steve/Lani off we went home, hung out the laundry and went for a visit of Brent’s famous tree house(via a little ridge hike through the property). The house was indeed very cool, complete with a swing bridge to the door and a very high balcony. We hung out with Zack for much of the rest of the afternoon, then back to the house where Steve cooked us his Wagyu steak with a bottle of red, a very nice evening chatting and so forth.
Brent’s place + guardians
The three-story tree house in the redwoods
Our upstairs suite amongst the trees
The Santa Cruz Hills: a special place indeed. I lived there for several months in the mid 70s, in Felton and Ben Lomond on Hwy 9. If you get a chance to go down Hwy 9, I recommend that!
Awesome construction in the tree !
When did you meat Neil for the first time T?
Just realized this must be Brent Sumner’s place? The wood carvings of course!
Large and remarkable family you have Zoë! Spread out through the States, nice opportunity to see them all, maybe some remaining?
From the tale the South US looks like a cool place, probably Mexican influence already.
Close to the Southern border now, game over or extensions planned.
As long as you enjoy it, keep doing it!
Baci