Memorial Weekend 2010…The Santa Cruz Boardwalk!

This past weekend our family headed West for one of Charming’s best friend’s wedding. And my wonderful hubby planned a little something extra just for me. (I love it when he does that) You see, I have been having ridiculous ocean air withdrawls. Never before had I thought just how much the smell of ocean breezes really meant to me…until I moved to Reno. There isn’t the slightest hint of salty air out here.

So Charming decided that we needed to leave a day early and make Friday a day for me.  (I’m getting all chocked up again)   He had planned that we would make a stop at one of his old stomping grounds…the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.  I’ve never been to Santa Cruz before, so this was an added bonus for me…there is a deep love I have for taking a little adventure every now and then to discover a new place that I haven’t visited yet. 

Let me just tell you, on Friday morning I was as giddy as a school girl.  You would have thought that I was one of my girls and that he had told me I was going to Disneyland.  Serious.  As we made our way down the freeway, highway…whatever way, toward Santa Cruz I started getting more and more excited. 

Then I saw the sign that stated we were in Santa Cruz…oh the window on my passenger side went down with lightning speed!  And with my first inhale…I started crying.  Yep.  This big ole sap started crying.  I didn’t plan to…it just happened.  My senses were going crazy…it had been too long since I had smelled that salty ocean air.

And then I saw the water…more tears.  At this point I’m starting to feel really quite ridiculous…and my kiddles were asking ehy I was crying.  “Oh, Momma’s just happy to smell the ocean.”   Amazingly that response seemed to stop the queations.  (if only it were that easy all the time)

As we pulled up to the boardwalk the squeals and clapping grew louder and louder.  In fact, when we pulled into the parking area, Grace rolled down her window and told the attendant, “Um, sir, I want to go on the roller coaster please.”   Let the laughter commence.

We walked the boardwalk checking out all of the rides and foodie stands.  And of course, the girls wanted everything sweet.  That’s when we found one of several Marini’s Candy Stores.  They have been there forever…and there’s even one down on the pier just in case you bypass the boardwalk.

They were completely mesmerized with the candy store’s cotton candy machine.  I may be all grown up, but watching that sugar spin still is a wonderment to me.

We made our way down the pier…and there was the Marini’s Munchies.  A little bit of everything sweet (again).  Not to mention the chocolates galore…Rose found her favorite: Chocolate Covered Strawberries!  (they are Momma’s favorite too)  So we decided to make our sweets purchase there…cotton candy (Grace), chocolate covered strawberries (Rose & Momma), salt water taffy (Charming) and some various chocolates.  I was feeling a bit adventurous and curious…so a piece of dark chocolate covered bacon was purchased.  Not bad…but I think that I would have liked it even more with maple bacon.  It was just a little bit smokier than I would have liked.

A little further down the pier we find a seafood lover’s paradise…the fresh catches of the day.  I thought that Charming was going to salivate all over the pier…those crabs were calling out to him.  All of them.  Rose wasn’t so sure about them though…and Grace was convinced that they were going to jump off the counter and pinch her.

I can’t really blame her…look at the claws on these guys!

The questions were flowing. I think that we went through every fish and crustacean there…Rose wanted to know what everything was.  (this was where I should have purchased my fish & chips…I made a mistake of getting it at the boardwalk.  Don’t make the same mistake I did…get it on the pier.

As we made our way further down the pier…all the way to the end…the calls of the sea lions were abundant.  There, under the pier, were sleeping sea lions.  I was amazed that they could even get up on those beams…there were some HUGE suckers down there. 

This poor guy was sound asleep…and kept almost rolling off the beam.  It was so humorous…like watching a baby when it falls asleep in it’s highchair and it’s head starts bobbing.

We even were treated to a viewing of a newborn sea lion…and the momma sea lion was about to have a second pup.  It definately was a picture snapping moment.  I mean, when was I going to come across that again?  But I was sure glad that I didn’t have the crowd watching me give birth like this poor momma did.  Talk about pressure!

Of course we had to get the tourist’s penny…and I have no idea how Rose’s fingernails got so ridiculously dirty from the car to the pier though.  She got her shark & Grace got her sea lion.

After our walk on the pier, it was off to the rides!  First, we hit the historic carrousel.  This brought back all sorts of memories for me…you see, I was an avid carrousel rider as a child. 

You would not believe the squeals of joy that came out of these two kiddles when they got on each ride.  I think the entire boardwalk heard them.  Even Momma got in on the fun.

There were so many rides to choose from…and of course the girls wanted to go on all of them.  They were forced to make some tough choices though…we limited ourselves to purchasing only 50 tickets for the rides (which ranged from 3-5 tickets a piece) so that we wouldn’t go completely over budget.  And it worked!  Woohoo!

They attacked every ride they could…and enjoyed every minute of it.  From the carrousel to cars & boats, dragons to tilt-a-whirls…my girls’ squeals were worth every penny.  And I just loved the boats that the girls picked…the names totally fit them. 

When we finally stopped to eat it was teriyaki chicken skewers for Rose (4 to be exact)

and fried shrimp for Grace.  She kept stealing Charming’s shrimp…I guess the chicken skewers and noodles just weren’t her thing that day. (she’s our little crustacian lover)

All I can say is that I absolutely LOVE my hubby for treating me to such a wonderful day.  I can’t wait to go back with the kids again.  But this time I’ll get my fish ‘n chips on the pier.