The Ericksons: One Mixed Up Day in Santa Cruz

One of our favorite Phelps Family traditions is to spend the day in Santa Cruz - enjoying a beach and Boardwalk day. We drive down just after noon to allow for the dissipation of the marine layer. We pick up Togos sandwiches as we pull into Santa Cruz and get them to go. Seabright Beach is our beach of choice, and after finding street parking in the nearby neighborhoods, we haul all our beachware down. Our beachware includes 2 chairs, 1 double chair (it's a beast to carry), a tent, towels, a cooler, dry food bag, beach toys bag, clothes bags, and then of course the small stuff like sunglasses and wallets. Because the beach is an hour away, we usually overpack to be on the safe side. After a day playing in the sand and water, we haul everything back to our trusty van (Ford Windstar, 1998) and proceed to change. Rather than do our changes in the gross beach bathrooms, we just alternate the use of the van. The men are quite quick, but us girls take our time; sand hides in mysterious places you know. We then drive to the Boardwalk, just a short 5 minute drive away. Sometimes we luck out with metered street parking, but other times we fork out the hefty parking lot charge for the sake of convenience. Then it's dinner at one of the little dives and a night of riding the roller coaster and Ghost Blasters. We leave long after it's dark, and we are so grateful Dad is always alert enough to drive home while all of us sleep in back. Unpacking the car is dreaded, but after 10+ years of practice, it usually goes pretty quick.

When Aaron and I got married, the van was at full capacity; but by the time Little Livi came along, Lisa was on her mission, so the van was still sufficient. However, with Lisa home and Josh now a part of our family - it has come to the sad day when we must take 2 cars to the beach. Sigh. We always knew the day would come. This last Santa Cruz trip was a doosie. It was one of those days where you had to remind yourself that you'd be laughing about it all the next day, so might as well laugh in the moment.

I have been dying to boogie board - I watch kids do it ALL the time down here, and I have missed it. Knowing I'd have plenty of help watching Olivia, I was committed to finding us some boards for the day. Thankfully, I knew that we could buy some at Costco. It didn't take much convincing to get Mom on board with the idea (pun not intended at first, but I'd like to claim that I was clever enough to think of it deliberately). With only an hour or so before our planned departure, we made the drive to Costco, and we did find boogie boards, but they were almost as tall as I am! After some quick research on my phone (gotta love smartphones), we realized that Costco only carried boards appropriate for folks over 5'10. That would leave only Josh and Jordan as appropriate riders. We tried calling WalMart, Target and sports stores, but with no luck. It then occurred to us - "let's borrow from the Lee's!" (again). The Lees are a family in our ward that seem to have everything! We'd borrowed their boards before and didn't anticipate any problem with borrowing them again - and there wasn't.

We never leave when we say we are going to, so 11:30 turned into 12:30. I was focused on getting me and Livi ready and packed for the day. Usually I pitch in more to see that everyone gets their things, but keeping track of Liv and her needs now monopolizes my trip attention. We (me and Liv) were ready to go! We had suits on, towels, sunscreen, hoodies, toys - the works. We loaded up and took off! Or at least, we tried to. First, Jordan had to run back in the house for something - so it took my car just a minute to catch up with the van, at which point Lisa (in the van) realized she hadn't grabbed the lemon juice (to lighten her hair color). So I flipped around again to pick it up. I told Dad not to wait, but like a gentlemen (or a worried father), he waited at the light. We were FINALLY on our way. The drive there was rather uneventful, just some construction traffic along Highway 17. I don't mind driving it during daylight - but come nightfall and I'd much rather be asleep in the back seat! My Dad is also insanely comfortable with the roads, so he drives on the faster side - keeping with the flow of traffic at all times - but nevertheless, faster than I'm comfortable driving 17. Togos was sure a welcome sight. I haven't eaten at one for at least 8 months. I even branched out to a club sandwich. Although it was good, I'll be sticking with a #24 no pickles/peppers from here on out. Parking proved to be an issue, but we eventually found spots and unloaded.

The walk to the water is long, so we usually pity the people chosen to carry either the cooler or the double chair. I was on Livi duty, so thankfully I was spared! Somewhere along the walk across the sand, we realized we didn't bring the tent. Not a huge deal - but a pretty big inconvenience - no shade for our cooler or food, no place to put all our purses and clothes, no place for Livi to sit out of the sun. Darn. Once we finally chose a beach spot (we nabbed someone else's camp as they were leaving), we began to set up. Chairs up, double chair ready, cooler out, Kris and Liv's towels laid out, everyone else's towels....oh wait....where WERE all the other towels? This led to a "did you get the towels out of the dryer?" "no, I thought you did" "did you?" "no". Crap. 7 adults, 1 toddler, and 2 towels. Peachy. I had to laugh. Thankfully I had come prepared for me and Liv! So another small setback.

After applying sunscreen and eating our delicious sandwiches, I grabbed a boogie board and headed out in the water. It's a bit cooler than the water in Santa Monica, but not bad at all. Josh and Jordan weren't too far behind. I caught 3 of the best waves I've had for either boarding or body surfing! I loved it. Really convinced I need to buy some boards. Josh and Jordan caught some waves as well, but we spent a lot of our time just waiting for waves worth trying for. They were breaking fast and close to the coast most of the time. Michelle came out to join us as well! Poor girl's been sick with Mono forever, but she was determined not to let that hold her back! Sometime during our ocean time, Michelle got tossed and turned pretty good by a wave...and not long after Josh got hit by a wave while he was standing sideways, he couldn't quite get his board under him in time. The wave threw him into the sand, and he landed on his shoulder. Ouch. I didn't see either, but once I saw that everyone was heading in - I eventually followed suit (several waves later). I felt so bad! Josh was in quite a bit of pain - and thankfully Chelle was more exhausted than hurt. We decided to dry out and chill for a bit. Dad had gone back to the van to get some blankets to double as towels. We all laid out and then we realized, it was cold. It would have been perfect weather had it not been windy! I couldn't get warm! I spent the rest of the afternoon under towels and blankets, and eventually fully clothed trying to get warm. No suntan for me! Sad.

Jordan and Josh played some frisbee (even with his shoulder hurting, Josh was determined), Lisa and Dad played some football, and Michelle and Livi played in the sand and joined Dad and Lisa for some football. Mom and I stayed huddled up on the chairs. We still had a great time. Eventually, we all warmed up and hunger set in! We packed up (which took a bit longer than usual because even with 7 adults, we couldn't figure out how to fold up our new beach chair!) and went back to the cars to change. Then it was off to the Boardwalk! We found some metered parking, score. Mom and I put change in ours...and nothing happened. We put in a nickel, nothing. Seriously?! We chose a broken meter?! Sigh. We eventually backed into another spot and cut our losses ($1.25).

I was starving, so I opted for dinner first. We ate at a little joint at the end of the Boardwalk, I had some clam chowder in a bowl, others had corn dogs, a chicken sandwich, and popcorn chicken. And as if we hadn't had enough set backs already, the popcorn chicken I guess was disgusting! (I didn't find out until after). Bottom line: we spent far too much for a not so fantastic meal. Lesson learned: come on dollar dog nights at the Boardwalk. We washed up and were on on our way to the roller coaster when we passed the Carousel. Livi seemed intrigued so we went in to give her a turn. We seemed to have just missed the cutoff for the current turn, so waited until the end...when suddenly we realized, THEY WERE CLOSING! Panic started to set in. It wasn't just the Carousel closing, but ALL the rides. The kids ran off to the roller coaster, but with no luck. We all felt AWFUL. We had all been looking forward to riding the roller coaster, especially Lisa who hasn't for 2 years! Just our luck, right?! We all took turns taking the blame, but ultimately, we admitted it was poor planning and lack of knowledge. We just assumed the Boardwalk would be open to its usual time: 11pm - typical summer hours, and to our credit, it was summer. But the summer hours don't start until the end of June. Lame. We did a little shopping before we left, and then started home. To end our day, my car decided we needed one more mishap (not intentionally), we were busy gabbing and took a wrong turn at a fork in the highway. We ended up in Los Gatos! It's a beautiful, quaint town. And by that point we couldn't help but laugh. Eventually, with the help of a nice man at a gas station, we found our way back to Highway 17 and home.

So yes, it was probably the worst luck we've ever had at Santa Cruz, but it sure makes for a good story! Here are a bunch of pictures from our day. :)