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| Seabright State Beach, Santa Cruz, California |
We went to the beach this past weekend. While we have visited Santa Cruz countless times before and love it, this trip was not very relaxing. We usually frequent Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay when we go to the beach (which we do year round). This time, we chose Santa Cruz since it is about 35 miles away from home, and a 50-minute drive with regular traffic or a little over an hour in summer traffic.
We usually cycle between a few beaches at Santa Cruz. The Lighthouse Field State Beach is where we go to have nice long oceanside walks with beautiful views, ocean breeze and to watch surfers. There is a small stretch of sand which we sometimes walk down to. The Natural Bridges State Beach is a beach we go to very often when we set up our tent on the beach and spend a few hours there. It is small but very beautiful and has a well-organized parking lot. This beach does not allow dogs which is a benefit for us when we have a small baby crawling on the sand and picking up everything he finds to put in his mouth (we enjoy the dogs otherwise). The Seabright State Beach is where we go when we want a change. This beach is fairly large and allows dogs as well. Parking is mostly street parking and there are steps to go down to the beach which is something to consider if you have a stroller or wagon to carry. We have also been to Davenport a few times, but found that it is quite windy there. Davenport is a town a few miles north of Santa Cruz, and is outside of the Monterey Bay facing the Pacific Ocean instead.
We had taken our baby to the beach before, but he was a whole lot younger at the time. On this visit, by the time we arrived at the beach, our daughter was impatient to play. We had stopped to pick up lunch on the way, delaying our arrival. We got sandwiches from a local café called Linda’s Seabreeze Café, where we met a friend who happened to be dining there. Then we went to the nearby Seabright State Beach and set up our tent there and ate our sandwiches.
Our daughter enjoyed playing in the sand, and running
without a care in the world on the nice expanse of sand at the beach. The water
was cold as usual, which is to be expected with the Monterey Bay and the
Pacific. We only dipped our feet in for a short while and collected water in a
bucket for her to play with her sand toys. Our son, however, has become so
mobile that he went a bit wild on the sand, crawling all over, putting sand and
twigs in his mouth without stopping for a moment, and refusing to be held or
redirected. He was way too charged up for our comfort! After taking turns at watching and carrying him for about an hour, we decided to pack up and walk a bit
on the beach before going to a coffee shop.
We enjoyed our stop for coffee at “The Abbey” where we were
able to wash up (the kids in particular) and leisurely enjoy our cappuccinos, hot chocolate and croissants while our baby napped. We spent time in the garden after our son
woke up, feeding him and giving him some time to move around. He loves standing
up holding on to furniture and cruising alongside it; he doesn’t walk yet. We
spent time there until it was almost 6:00 pm, since we wanted to avoid hitting
traffic on our way back. We got back home at almost 7:00 pm, quite exhausted after the day
out.
Takeaways - Our daughter had a great time at the beach. She
had been asking us to take her to the beach for several weeks and we could
finally go. Our son – not so much. It was frustrating for him to be confined
and not be able to put sand in his mouth explore. The weather was great, with the temperature in a very comfortable 70s. The beach and the ocean looked absolutely gorgeous
with the water in a deep shade of blue. Unfortunately, when we were at the
beach, there was a smell of smoke in the air, which took away from the
fresh-ocean-air-deep-breathing experience that I look forward to the most at
the beach.
If we do this again, we need to change several things – plan
and pack the night before, pack our food ahead of time, leave the house by 9 or
10 am, pack everything we need into a backpack or two (no tent, wagon and other
bulky things to lug around). We would also do well to decide our routine for
putting on sunscreen, changing into flipflops and planning who carries what
beforehand. We should probably take the baby’s
stroller and the Ergobaby carrier with us. And finally, we could plan to set up
shop at a beach where one of us can stroll baby while the other plays with our
daughter on the beach. Whew! Hoping we get to enjoy our next trip to the ocean.
Well tell me
Where it all went wrong
Where it all went wrong
And tell me
Where you lost those damn songs
I can't say I was surprised
I heard a drink was involved
Oh you gotta be, oh you gotta be
Still living by the sea
Oh you gotta be, oh you gotta be
'Cause Santa Cruz
You're not that far
Oh Santa Cruz,
No, you're not that far
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