Visalia to Santa Cruz

More driving. I got up this morning, took my time getting ready. Talked to Katie on the phone for a bit, then Tamara, and also Anne later in the day. I love my friends! I am so lucky to have been able to surround myself with such wonderful people.

I made it to Santa Cruz by about 2:30 this afternoon. I had read in my book about a place nearby where you could camp right on the beach and thought that would be really cool. Unfortunately, it was Friday, on the coast, in the middle of a heat wave, so it was full. The guy gave me a list of other places to try and I ended up at Bob's Pine Grove. It's an interesting place, in the back yard of two old women run by an odd man. But, it's near downtown Santa Cruz, and it's a pretty nice place so it'll do.

I found a parking spot near the beach and sat and watched the waves for a bit. Santa Cruz has lots of bike lanes so I popped my bike down off the rack (much easier to do now on the new set-up) and explored the area. There are lots of really interesting people here, a happening downtown and it appears a vibrant nightlife.

I went back to my campsite and made some dinner, had some tea and read my book (Middlesex, which I bought upon remembering Gillian really liked it). Now I am here. Here is an interesting place. It is called the Firefly Coffee House. It is a laundromat and internet cafe and is currently holding an open mic poetry night. Some of it is pretty cool, but there was just a couple up singing and it was all I could do not to laugh out loud. They sang "Rockin' Robin" horribly out of tune! I love these experiences that I've been happening upon! I just heard the line "One of poetry's balls is bigger than the other" from a poem entitled "Poetry has an Attitude Motherfucker!" Love it!

So this is where all of our tomatoes come from. They stretched as far as the eye could see.
This part of Califronia reminded me a lot of Alberta actually

This did not look safe at all. I'm sure the frame was bent