Quality Inn Santa Cruz

Finally left the noisy dorm room yay. Saw some massive waves along the coast towards Monterey. Stopped off in Santa Cruz, not much going on in Fall! Apparently it's wooden rollercoaster is a national monument! Got to Monterey and found a visitor centre for a map. Hotel man upgraded us to a deluxe king, had a microwave and a fridge! Watched lots of TV ...

... it was a lone seal! Unfortunately, as we got nearer, we could see the poor thing was obviously sick as it was rolling its head back and forth in a funny way (see video). Later on, as we walked back past the seal, a group had gathered, and we overheard that the seal was going to be rescued. We sat and waited a while, but nobody came, so we headed on back - we'll never know what became of the seal....<br><br><br><br>

... switching off with some horrid energy drunk mixture....then off to wherever...<br><br>I had left my ID in Lola and had to go get it back before ordering...so off I went. Santa Cruz isn't too big and I just had to walk a couple blocks to get to where we...I thought...parked Lola. I'm on the phone with Billy, 2 sketchy guys all decked out in black walk by and I just continue along. As I get higher up this hill and start paying attention to what I'm doing, these guys start trying to ...

... as saying yes to a comfy bed, treating myself well and spending time to decompress, it's a positive. Maybe this is obvious to most of you, but as someone who often experiences FOMO (fear of missing out), this was relevant, useful and actually very liberating.<br><br> That night we had a performance evening, watching incredible people do incredible things. I'm not going to go through them all individually, but we had hoopers, poi-sters, dervish spinners, singers ...

... It felt like forever waiting to go to Jakes but after a few hours of YouTube sharing and music blaring we headed Jake's. Jake's was fun, but we only really sat around again...Sophie had talked to a good friend of hers who had recently moved to San Francisco from the island, Steven Blunt. He told us he would possibly travel down to Santa Cruz for the night to see us. As ten o clock rolled around she received a call that Steven was indeed on his way. Somewhere along the ...

... place called the Saturn Cafe. It was a veggie cafe, so they sold nothing but nothing on the menu other than veggie stuff. Dale asked for Macaroni Cheese but it was sold out. I asked for a tuna salad, but then asked "Is it really tuna?" No, it was some sort of fish substitute so I thought I'll pass on that one. We all ordered burgers, but not real burgers, veggie ones. When this thing arrived it was ...

... were preparing for a monster truck rally and were then going to rip up the grass, you would think they could let us have a walk around. But no. The rules are year round. Still, the facilities were fascinating as were the stories of childish psychology that goes on between a home team and the visitors. The visitors' facilities are pretty spartan in comparison to the luxury the Giants experience - they have bigger lockers (about twice the size), the finish is nicer (laminex ...

... s a bit hard these days given that there are few, if any, pleasant places in which to hang out near the check-in area. Dad still was very calm and incredibly supportive, saying how confident he was in me and asking me various questions about my trip (thankfully not about medicine or safety-basta!). Mom and I, however, were now freaking out. Having studied at Yale for five years and worked in Manhattan for the past three, I have grown used to not seeing my family for long periods ...

Our first destination will be in San Francisco. We will be spending 5 days in this fabulous city. During our stay we will get to do many exciting things like touring the whole San Francisco area on a go-cart! We can tour San Francisco without any annoying tour guides telling us exactly where to go or where to look at. We will also have a 3 Day Go San Francisco Card that will allow us to go anywhere we want and ...

... t too keen to be peering over the railings though! A reasonably priced motel with spa pool and free internet provided the base in Flagstaff - a real bargain. Mary's first sight of the Grand Canyon was from a window of the helicopter tour we took from the airport. A luxurious way to appreciate the vastness of the place but it had to be done. This was followed by hike along part of the rim and a look from the various view points. The word 'grand' is perhaps not as ...