New truck for us! We went from a half-ton to a three-quarter, so now it’s time to take a little trip! Deciding to go to Seacliff we made a reservation for one night (it’s all we could get) back in October and chose to try our luck at the lottery for the week after Christmas. We dewinterized the cloud, packed and headed south to Brannan Island SP on Tuesday. We got there in the dark and tried to get water, however the faucet by the dump station was dry, so went into the campground to find water and came up empty.
New truck handled perfectly, and the morning was beautiful at Brannan Island!
Ended up parking for the night and filling
the water containers we carry via the faucets
in the campground. Up early, made coffee
to go, dumped and drove to Santa Cruz
getting there at 11:30 in time to put our
name in.
Five open sites with five in the lottery all but one were for the week. We were drawn last and luck was with us and we got a site for four nights! It’s tight quarters but our neighbors were great!
Our neighbors to the left provided us with great view space.
The beach out the door is sweet!
Wilder Ranch is just a quick drive north of Santa Cruz with a multitude of hiking and biking trails. It’s been a CA State Park since 1974, and I can’t believe that we have never been here!
The Wilder Ranch grounds are perfect for a picnic and there is an interpretive center, a farm yard and a beautiful victorian to see.
A massive patch of Red Hot Pokers are in the yard at Wilder Ranch and the hummingbirds are all over them.
While John rode his bike (35 miles of trails) I hiked the Old Cove Landing Trail. The day was perfect (parking could be an issue at times I think), and the Harbor seals performed in in this little cove.
Harbor seals just wanna have fun.
This Egret was fun to watch as it walked possibly looking for food or maybe another Egret.
Not a bad spot to read and relax.
Can not beat the beach at sunset in the cloud!
John’s dad use to jump off the end of the cement boat and swim to shore.
The sunsets did not disappoint while we were at Seacliff and and made for romantic walks. After watching this we walked to Rio Del Mar to have dinner at Cafe Rio.
Final sunset of 2016 -Santa Cruz!
We spent New Year’s Eve having champagne
and hors d’oeuvre with our neighbors and then
walking the strand stopping to chat at various
fire ring establishments. It was fun, spontaneous
and a great way to start 2017!
