Natural Bridges State Park
During our first ever Christmas/solstice vacation in California, our good friend Kerri (okok, her personal website is here) was kind enough to lend us her car while she went back east to visit her family. At the time we hadn’t bought our own car yet so this meant FREEDOM! We drove all over the place, and on one excursion we randomly stopped by the side of the main road north from Santa Cruz after seeing a sign for something (we suck at planning). A short hike later we stumbled onto a path that led us to a glen full of monarch butterflies, which was awesome. Sadly our camera equipment at the time was, erm, sad, so we did not get good pictures at all, but this should give you an idea.
We kept on walking and found a lovely beach with a holed-out rock off in the ocean, and it was awesome. Yes, somehow we’d stumbled onto Natural Bridges State Park, and as the years went by, we kept coming back for more. A quick search gave me these trips: 1, 2, 3, 4.
Fast-forward some eleven years (!!!) and we decided to visit the beach again, this time with Sarah and Augusto in tow.
Kids checking out the beach. It was warm out but a pretty cold breeze was coming off the ocean.
Augusto and Sarah plus kids making their way down to the beach. In the background one can see the park-ranger car which drove down onto the beach every now and then, much to Bjarki's consternation. He wanted to know what they were doing there, what would happen if one did something 'wrong', and when they'd be back.
It turned out this was an excellent day for kite-flying! Yes, that's Anna flying a borrowed kite in the background.
Our site. The beach was not exactly crowded, but there were quite a few folks there.
Sarah figured out how to fix the Google-kite to get it airborne. She's a clever one! 🙂
Two kites in the air!
Augusto poses with Clarissa in front of the holed-out mini-island.
Clarissa touches the (very cold) Pacific Ocean for the first time!
Hello there oceanfront houses. 🙂
Anna having a grand old time flying a kite.
Bjarki turned out to be a natural at kite-flying! Of course that little pond behind him had a 'not safe for playing due to contamination' warning, which was a huge bummer - it looked just perfect for splashing about in without having to worry about the fierce waves.
Finnur took the kids to the ocean for a bit.
A panorama of the oceanfront taken by Finnur (click for a larger image).
Here’s a video Finnur took of the kids running into and out of the ocean. 🙂
Yes, the water was coooold! 🙂
Clarissa, up close!
Sarah and Augusto trying valiantly to get the fancy 'steerable' kite up into the air. It didn't really pay off.
Here's a weird thing to be nostalgic for: Tall trees surrounding car parks.
Soon the kids began to tire, and it was time to return back over the mountains. First, a little street-view from highway 1 south, going towards Santa Cruz proper.
Sarah and Augusto headed straight home, but we went to have dinner with Katie and Dirk (again!). 🙂
Good times! 🙂
I think this is a jasmine-tree/plant/vegetation-thingy. It grows on their patio. 🙂
And thus concluded that Epic Saturday of Industriousness! 🙂