California trip

So after our wedding & myself spending a week with my daughters (Shannon & Deanna) my grandson, (Braeden) and with various relatives (Angela, John, Clare, Jean, & Jan) and of course with my best friend Stacy and her family (Oscar, Seth & Hannah) Dave and I were off to Sunnyvale, CA. Him for work and me well for fun.
We arrived safely in San Jose airport. We, of course, collected our luggage and went to pick up the car rental. Dave had asked for a "mid size" car, as there was 3 of us traveling in it. (Jim, Dave's co-worker was the other) No one could have ever guessed what vehicle we were given. It was the 2011 Burnt orange Challenger!! (For those of you that don't know Dave & I, we own a 2010 SRT 8 B-5 Blue Challenger) So to us this was quite funny, Dave thought his boss, Derrick, had called the car rental and asked them to give us this one, we found out later that he did not, so it was just luck.

Off we went to the hotel, we had enough time to unpack the bags before we drove over to Derrick & Heathers house. (we had Pizza) I personally had more fun visiting and talking with Heather, showing her the wedding pics & so on. Later on as we had pizza, Dave's Bosses Boss Blain also joined in the pizza party. It was nice to meet Dave's co-workers. Heather & I made plans to "hang out" on the following Wed. and we went back to the hotel.

Monday, Dave & I had breakfast and then I sent him off to walk to work, (5 min walk from the hotel)Then I gathered my "Nancie bag" (all the things I would need for the day, Maps, camera, purse, addresses, water) and off I went to see the Pacific Ocean. The Boardwalk in Santa Cruz here I come. The boardwalk, itself, was closed, but I did not mind at all. My whole reason to go there was to walk in the Pacific water, and with luck on my side, the beach was 98% deserted, I was totally ok with that. I sat on the boardwalk, taking pictures, breathing in the air, as I took off my shoes & socks, put them in my little bag to carry them, and down to the water I walked, slowly and taking in the beauty that lay before me. I wanted to call Dave just to tell him how beautiful it was, but I knew he was at work in meetings at the time, so I could not. I tried to call my youngest daughter Dee, but no answer, so I called Shannon, my oldest, just to tell her how beautiful it was. After an hour of walking in the water and taking pictures of the boardwalk, I slowly walked back to where I could sit to put on my socks & shoes.
I walked back to the car, and was talking to Shannon, when a couple of workers drove by and parked by my window, I rolled down the window and they began to say what a nice car I had and were impressed with it, they had no idea it was a rental, and I didn't let on. I asked them for directions to get to the Pacific coast highway, (they were easy directions) I thanked them and told them to have a wonderful day as they did to me, and we were both off.
This next road I took is I believe called the Pacific coast highway, Getting to this road is tricky with a wide car like the challenger, the roads are narrow in CA, so driving was indeed an experience. I set the nav to go to Half Moon bay, and just took my time. It was 48 miles to my destination, I want to go on record to say I usually can do a drive like this in less than an 50 min, so I thought no big deal. I have no words to describe what I saw on along that highway, (I will try) but I can tell you that it took me 6 hours to drive that 48 miles.
I saw the ocean from a cliff of at least 2000 feet straight down. (Awesome) I rove a little further down the road, only to pull off again and again, walking down some pathways just to find myself enveloped in yet another picturesque setting. As I walk in the ocean once more, I find myself running away from the water as a swell comes too quickly toward me, my pant legs were rolled up but I still got them wet. It was wonderful, Cold, but wonderful.
I found a shell at one of my many many stops along this road, It was one where there were large rocks in the middle of the beach, I could sit on the rocks to take my shoes & socks off once again to walk in the water, this shell was quite unique, It reminded me of a horse hoof, how they angle and curve just perfectly, and they almost look like they have layers to them, however this shell had a dark greyish layer, then on top of that a beautiful, gorgeous, deep Blue, then like a pearlized White, another light blue then white again, It is quite pretty, the whole inside looks and feels like a pearl. I brought it home with me. (awesome)
I sat on another set of rocks for over an hour, taking pictures and again just watching the ocean, the swells I saw were at least 10 feet high at this point, I would watch them beginning to grow far out in the water then build and build and come crashing down, as I sat on these rocks you could tell the water would eventually cover them as they had pools of water all through them and were encrusted with small sea shells. The water would come within a few feet of me only to reseed back into the enormous ocean in front of me. Foam, from the waves, the only reminiscence that it was even there.
A little girl and her grandfather also were exploring among the rocks, I asked her how old she was and she said she was 4, a year younger than our grandson, she asked me if I wanted to see a sea anemone, I said sure, and she showed me on in a pool of water, she proceeded to ask me if I wanted to touch it, I decided against that, and just said no it was fine, of course I had to take a picture of it. She was adorable, telling me as much as she could about the rocks, and water. It was so adorable, it made me want Dave & our grandson with me (my daughters too)
I stopped at a light house along this route also, It was beautiful, I watched at the waves just crashing into the rock, and again was in awe of the raw power of the ocean as it smashed into those rocks.
I called my daughter at least 10 times as I sat by the ocean watching the swells, and pikes, surfers, and dolphins ( I saw dolphins) I had her listen to the water, it was so loud, with the crashing of the waves. I was in Awe of that scene before my eyes. Some of you may think I'm nuts, but the Pacific ocean and the Atlantic ocean seem like 2 totally separate entities to me, meaning, they are just so different, we don't get the swells here by the Hamptons, of NH.
As I drove back to the hotel, I talked to my cousin, and apparently I was so excited, that I was talking very fast and forgot to breath... HA.. imagine..
I arrived back to the hotel in time for Dave to get back a few min after me and we went out to dinner, to the macaroni grill, I talked the whole time about the ocean. If any of you reading this can ever go to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, and drive down to half moon bay, for goodness sake, do so, I truly believe it is the only way you can appreciate all that I saw in those 6 hours.
I do not want to make this too long, I would like to share the rest of my week with all of you, but I will await until the next blog to tell you of my other adventures in CA.
*hugs* to you all. Until my next blog.
~N~