Day 4: Saratoga to Santa Cruz

Headed out of Saratoga this morning, still not able to reach any staff at the campground an hour after the office was supposed to have opened.  Oh well.

A quick bite of breakfast, and back on the road to Santa Cruz.  The hills on this stretch are not ideal for biking – they are big and winding and have no shoulder for bikers to stay out of traffic.  Yet a lot of people bike through here, and there are even signs for bikes and bike routes.  If only every route had such nice big bike lanes as the last two days.

Santa Cruz is an interesting town.  The first thing that really struck me (luckily not literally!) was how many homeless people live here.  Even compared to the poorer areas of San Fran that we biked through didn’t have such a big population of the homeless.

But Santa Cruz is a nice town.  The water front especially is beautiful, with nice sandy beaches and scenic bluffs.  There is a classic boardwalk with rides, and a wharf with restaurants, and plenty of rental shops for all sorts of water sports from sailing to surfing to stand up paddle boarding to kayaking.  It was a nice day, but not really warm (it is November now, after all!) but the beaches, scenic drives, and even the waves and water were crowded.   

The mission in Santa Cruz was, frankly, not one of my favorites.  The original church had long since been destroyed, and the current replica was only built as a scale model (depending on who you ask, either a half scale or a third scale).  I think it’s strange that they would go to all the cost and work to build a replacement mission church and only do it half way (literally!).

However, there is an original section of the mission still remaining.  One of the original adobes that the “neophytes” (the converted Native Americans) lived in has been preserved and used by numerous families through the years as a home, and was eventually sold to the California State Parks for its historical preservation.  But – here’s the other strange thing about this mission – the adobe and the scale-model chapel are run by different organizations.  So when visiting, you have to make sure that both will be open!  Luckily the adobe is free to visit, and the chapel is free but they like you to give a donation. 

The adobe is really worth visiting.  It is interesting not just for its original history, but to see how it was converted by the several families that lived there into an increasingly modern structure by outward appearance while still retaining its original foundation, adobe walls, etc.  Be sure to ask in the visitor center to see the photos of the restoration, where you can get a better idea of how it looked for the last person to live there in 1983 before they restored it to its current state.  

The other great place we visited today was the Natural Bridges State Park.  There is only one “bridge” remaining, the others have long since eroded and fallen into the ocean.  But it’s really neat to see.  We visited during low tide, and you could walk under the bridge part way.  The bridge and surrounding area is home to an astounding number of California Brown Pelicans, who are very entertaining.  We spent quite a long time watching them.

This park is also the winter home of the famous Monarch butterflies.  Luckily for us, the migration to the park begins in mid-October, so we were here at the perfect time to see them.  The grove where they live is literally covered by fluttering masses of butterflies.  It’s only a short walk from the beach to see them, and really amazing to see them and consider how far these small and fragile looking insects migrate every year.

Tonight we are camping at New Brighton State Beach not far from Santa Cruz.  It is apparently a very popular campground, so it’s a good thing I made reservations!  The campsites are a decent size, but it is not very heavily forested so it seems less private than some campgrounds (as I sit in the car writing this, I am closer to the neighbors at their picnic table than I am to my own tent).  Other than that, it is a nice place just a short walk from the beach. The staff is very helpful (and available!) – when the showers ate my quarter, they kindly refunded me. 

Daylight savings starts tonight, so we’ll be getting an earlier start (but also an earlier end) tomorrow so we can use as much daylight for riding as possible.

Today's route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2855656