Webb Family Blog

This morning, Kellie and I woke early. We hit the road for Santa Cruz around 7 AM. When we first arrived into Santa Cruz, I was thinking of where to eat breakfast. After parking near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, we walked up to the Beach Street Cafe. The door was open and the lights were on, so Kellie and I walked inside. Upon walking in, a man told us “We’re not open yet. We open at 8.” It was 7:52, so 8 minutes early. We decided not to even return for business, as his attitude left a lot to be desired. We decided to walk down the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf. We enjoyed watching the California sea lions making a racket under the wharf and watching the turf war amongst the biggest, presumably male sea lions. We saw a couple places open for breakfast on the wharf, but we waited until we got to the base of the wharf and ate at the Ideal Bar & Grill. I had an avocado and mushroom omelet and Kellie had huevos rancheros. It was very delicious. We walked all around the Beach Boardwalk which was closed, but we were able to walk around all the closed attractions. Upon return to the car, we debated on what to do. After our hike through sand yesterday, the thought of walking on the sand was not as enticing. We decided to head up to a tourist trap I’ve heard about but don’t actually remember going to… The Mystery Spot.

Upon arrival at The Mystery Spot, we found that it was $5 for parking and $5/person… oh well, we are here to be a tourist, I guess that is the cost of being a tourist. We just missed the first tour of the day, so we got the second tour… the 10:50 AM tour. Our tour guide did her job, but not as convincing as I’m sure other guides are. The tour was entertaining and the illusions were believable. I’m not sure it was worth $15, but I’m glad I now know. Everyone on the tour gets a Mystery Spot bumper sticker. I guess I’ll have to find an old VW bus owner that doesn’t have one yet and give them this bumper sticker, so their bus is no longer naked.

After The Mystery Spot, we decided to head down to Downtown Santa Cruz, to the Pacific Avenue area for shopping and eating. We walked around and found a place I like to eat, Pizza My Heart. We enjoyed a Super Veggie pizza. As we walked, we came across a theater and saw a movie I’d been wanting to see, Julie and Julia. This was a cute movie about two different women who apparently never met; Julia Childs and Julie Powell. Julia Childs was the wife of an American diplomat to France and being a wife, wanted something to pass the time. She loved French food and couldn’t find any cookbooks in English on how to cook French food. She attended Le Cordon Bleu and learned to cook, then met with a couple other ladies interested in bringing French cuisine to Americans. They eventually came up with the Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In 2oo2, Julie Powell hated her job working with people suffering the tragedy of 9-11-2001 in New York and took solace in her cooking. She decided she would learn to cook like Julia Childs, but not only follow her instructions but blog about her experiences doing so. It was a very enjoyable movie. Only a couple words will need to be removed for its eventual television release.

Upon completion of the movie, we wandered about in a few stores before heading back to the car. It had been a rather enjoyable day. The weather was perfect, it was relaxing. We finally found our way back to the parking structure I parked in. Before leaving, we saw something under the windshield wiper of the car. I initially thought it was an advertisement, but unfortunately, it was a parking citation. Apparently, the City of Santa Cruz is not to keen on people shopping at the local businesses and only getting a relatively small amount of tax money each store takes in, so they initiate hidden forms of revenue generation which pays off a whole lot more than sales and business tax. Apparently, in much smaller letters than “Free Parking” on all the entrances to the parking structure, it also says three hours maximum. We were there for about four hours and I guess it will cost us $40.