Day Thirteen – September 21, 2018
Another beautiful sunny day here in California. The hotel offers a full breakfast with ham, eggs, hash browns, and fresh fruit. Quite good!
Esmé and Trista are up early, Chris has gone to work, so we head up the mountain. Traffic is not too bad but the turn off the freeway is a tight curve so we better pay attention. We do not get lost this time but it is still hard to find!
So much energy in a 19-week-old baby – and could we just say she loves to be vertical! The plan is to spend some time by the ocean in Capitola. It’s not too early for driving lessons is it?
Down the mountain we go and the little one is not happy to be confined in her car seat – she is a bit vocal about it and let’s us know this is not cool.
We luckily find a parking spot facing the ocean and unload the baby gear to start exploring. It is cooler here by the water, and the marine layer is covering the bay. If only the sun could break through and warm it up a bit.
The stroller is not meeting all of our needs right now so Esmé get carried and we pile our stuff in the stroller.
There are many neat little stores up and down the streets, coffee shops, art displays, clothing, surfing gear and many restaurants.
Since we are hungry we opt for the closest place – which just happens to be Margaritaville.
Chicken tortilla soup goes with margaritas and the new mom opts for a tiny sip of our drinks as she has water and fish tacos.
Grandpa spends some time holding the little one as we finish lunch.
Then we are off on this long winding walk up the hills and the view of Monterey Bay is beautiful.
By the time we get to the top I am positive Trista is trying to kill us – she laughs and says we are lucky she didn’t have us take the stairs. The stairway is steep and there are no places to rest. Point taken!
The neighborhoods are all a little different and we are walking by some homes with sculptures and other art work. The views are incredible as the sun shines over the water.
Trista leads us to a house where a local artist makes starfish right out of his house. If he is home we are in luck and will be able to see his work. This particular artist does not advertise – his business is word of mouth and then since he does not advertise just try and find his house! Trista is certain we need a starfish for our Florida house. He answers the door and graciously lets us into his home to see his work. Very, very cool dude. Getting the hang of this Cali lingo!
There are several to choose from and we opt for the blue starfish. He tells us he would rather be talking to us about his art than work on his plumbing problem. We understand! Almost as an aside, he says he has sold over 2200 of these starfish – by word of mouth! Several of the homes in Capitola proudly display his work!
The time is starting to get away from us and we only have three-hour parking so we start down the hill and back to the parking lot.
One more must stop – Gayle’s Bakery. Trista assures us we won’t be disappointed.
And of course, we are anything but disappointed. This place is great with all kinds of baked goods, and dinner preps, and coffee, and tables to just sit and enjoy!
Esmé seems to like it here too! We get a fruit tart for Chris – we don’t want him to miss out on baked good!
Back up the mountain to Trista and Chris’ retreat we see their surf boards hung with straps underneath the porch.
Esmé has a hard time napping – perhaps too much fun and stimulation?
So we leave just before the traffic gets too bad. Trista texts that the baby is now napping – whew!
We have enough food leftover – so we take a quick nap ourselves (babies do tire one out and we should set a good example) and eat in our room.
Tomorrow we are going through Santa Cruz and up into Pescadero. There might be pie involved in this trip!
We are going to drive so the car needs to be emptied out – this is not a small task! Remember – we are driving cross-country for a month with variable weather conditions – so we need stuff!
