With the Lost Boys on Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Yesterday evening we enjoyed a great night of junk food and white knuckle rides on the Boardwalk at Santa Cruz, location for many of the scenes in Lost Boys.

We had checked into the Comfort Inn only five minutes stroll from the Boardwalk and after unpacking and applying a cold compress to Victorias' twisted ankle we were on the sea front.

There was quite a long list of things to do so we dove straight in, picking up a Funnel Cake. If you have never had one of these it is cake batter that has been deep fried like a doughnut, but the batter is poured in steadily so it forms lovely tasty, crispy strands. We eschewed all the optional toppings and had it neat, with just a sprinkle of sugar.

At about 700 calories for each funnel cake we made the wise decision to share one. They are bloody tasty but you would struggle to manage a whole one, although some of the locals do that with ease. They must have special training.

Next up we boarded the Sky Glider and were soon soaring over the Boardwalk in our cable car.

Great views over the Boardwalk, Santa Cruz and the Pacific Ocean.

This is the Giant Dipper, more on that later.

Alighting the Sky Gliders we purchased some lovely postcards from one of the concession and sat on a bench writing them before dropping them in the mailbox. Now it was time for a new food challenge. Being a vegetarian we have never tried the delights of a Corn Dog, however, one of the concessions does a veggie version so with statins at the ready we bravely sampled this delight. We also ordered a 'medium' soda that turned out to be bucket sized!

Despite the looks they are actually quite tasty with added ketchup and mustard. Again a single portion was too much for either of our delicate digestive systems so again we shared washed down with approximately a gallon of Diet Pepsi.

Now to the highlight of the evening, a ride on the Giant Dipper an historic wooden roller coaster dating from 1924. Reaching heights of 21m and speeds of 55mph its a different kind of ride to the steel coasters that we have gotten used to in this day and age but a great experience as is climbs, drops and banks around the track.

Thankfully we rode it at dusk just as the park is coming to life, although it was quite a bit quieter than our visit last year, I put that down to being a Sunday evening on the day before California goes back to school.

The park really does look great as it gets dark.

We still had a couple of treats to enjoy. First of which was a Tater Twist, I am amazed at the ingenuity of Americans when it comes to putting things on a stick and deep frying them and the Tater Twist is no exception. A potato is put on a stick and passed through a machine that cuts it into a long spiral and then deep fried. You then go over to the condiments stand and add flavourings of your choice. 

Victoria selected sour cream and chives at one end, parmesan cheese in the middle and cayenne at the other end. Here she is with her completed work!

Starting with the sour cream and chive end we munched away, until we got to the cayenne, bloody hell that was hot, very tasty but very spicy too!


We polished of with a portion of redberry sherbert flavoured Dippin' Dots very tasty and just the thing to take away the burn of the cayenne.

Our last snap of the evening, Victoria enjoying the Dippin' Dots under the Boardwalk entrance.

A great night and no vampire encounters recorded.

Last day in San Francisco and on to Santa Cruz

Following on from where we left off on Friday evening.

Friday had been exhausting, dashing all over town and had taken rather a toll so we awoke quite late and had a leisurely toilet. We had hoped to get breakfast at the Boudin Bakery on Fishermans Wharf but by the time we arrived had missed that service by a couple of minutes. We also tried Applebees and Rainforest Cafe but their offering did not inspire.

Instead we bought a churro from one of the vendors and ate that overlooking the marina. It was a beautiful morning, much warmer than the forecast would have had us expecting.
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Carrying on up the Embercadero we checked to see is a trip to Alcatraz Island was possible. The next available booking was on the 31st August - in nine days time! Instead we took a look at the exhibits that were available including this fantastic model of the island, I imagined some brilliant Pulp gaming that could be done on this model.

Continuing to the Ferry Plaza we wanted to take in the Farmers Market that had been recommended to us so we completed our late breakfast with a coffee at Peets and then dove into the Farmers Market.

Wonderful sights and sounds with loads of stall selling their freshly grown produce and many others selling meals to go.

We did a couple of laps before deciding what we wanted to buy. First of all we bought some hummus and falafel for our picnic lunch the next day, then we bought a pound of grapes from another stall and half a pound of heritage tomatoes from yet another.

We then spied another stall selling fresh Vegetable Samosas so we had one each to keep us going spread with a lovely sweet chilli glaze and a mint sauce - fantastic!

We then stopped at another stall who was about out of their stock and purchased a large punnet of strawberries. These are the best I have ever tasted Victoria declared. Having had strawberries in the U.S.A. before I was wary, usually they are nothing but flavourless mush, but oh my was she right; they were bloody lovely.

We had spent a good hour on the market and it was now beer o' clock so we retired to one of our favourite bars, the Ferry Plaza Wine Bar where I had another pint of their delicious Fort Point Park Wheat and Victoria again a Sonoma Solstice Syrah,

Quite loaded down with shopping, I bought Victoria a great tote from Cowgirl Creamery (I carried the loaded bag though, gentleman and all that). We then picked up a half pound of coffee beans from Blue Bottle and purchased ourselves an Affogato to share on the water-front, it was delicious.

We had a slow walk back up the Embercadero where we popped into Boudin Bakery to grab a sourdough baguette for our picnic tomorrow. On the way to the apartment we stopped again at 901 Columbus for a happy-hour beer and then completed the short walk to the apartment.

I made some heritage tomato on sourdough for us both and Victoria said she was going to grab a shower. I was awoken by Victoria two hours later, I guess those beers knocked me out!

It was getting dark now and we wanted to enjoy some North Beach night-life. We walked up Columbus through Little Italy and loved soaking up the atmosphere. Just past the City Lights Bookshop we entered the famous Vesuvio bar (where Jack Kerouca would regularly frequent) where we enjoyed a pint of Anchor Steam and all the beat ambience.

After cutting through Jack Kerouca Lane we picked up Columbus again and passed the crowds outside The Stinking Rose before dropping back into Cafe Grecco for a cappuccino and a very tasty coconut macaroon.

There was one last mission for the evening, many people had told us that we should try a pizza from Tony's so we slipped down Stockton and Union and purchased a slice of Margherita to take out. This was eaten on Washington Square and oh my it was fantastic!

It was time to make our way back to the apartment on Jansen Street, just off Columbus and Lombard where we pretty much crashed out straight away.

We were up bright and early to make a start on the packing and left the apartment at about 0900 where we grabbed breakfast at 901 Columbus. Victoria had a cream cheese bagel while I had granola, yoghurt and strawberries.

By 10.00 we were picking up our hire car from Hertz on Washington Square, a rather dowdy Chrysler Sonic given some interest with Washington State plates, then back to apartment to load up our goodies and say goodbye to Peter our AirBnb host.

This is the first time we have used AirBnb but we will certainly do so again.

We drove out of San Francisco and picked up Highway One and after about three quarters of an hour were at our first destination of the day; The Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. On our nights out in Nottingham we quite like a pint of their wares so while we are in California we thought it would be a great stop off point.

The bar is great and our server Zac was very helpful. To start with Victoria had a Sandy Beach Blonde while I had a Kolsch Style Ale. We were very tempted by food but we did have goodies from yesterdays trip to the farmers market. As I am driving my next drink was a IBC Root Beer, this had that lovely rich root beer taste I was after, Victoria sampled a 'Not For Sale Calf-Fine' which is a cold brew coffee milk stout and tasted lovely. For the last round I had their own  I.P.A. and Victoria a 'Not For Sale Saison'

Don't worry readers, we were not getting shit-faced at lunchtime, after the initial pint, all the other booze was were 4oz tasters.

We decided to take some carry-out, picking up a couple of bottles of 'Not For Sale Calf-Fine' and the IPA. We also cemented the reason for the trip and bought a dozen cans of the Mavericks Belgian Style Wit, one of Victorias' favourite ever.

So it was about 13.30 and we had spent over $50.00 in a bar, time to take a leisurely lunch on the beach. We enjoyed yesterdays purchases, tucking in to heritage tomatoes on sourdough, hummus and felafel, grapes and those lovely strawberries.

We then drove on for another 30 minutes arriving at Bean Hollow State Beach with is very interesting formations of Tafoni and toilets that would disgrace a Sealed Knot camp-site.

Finally, on to Santa Cruz and the Comfort Inn just off the Boardwalk where I am writing up this post and Victoria is grabbing a nap before an evening at the fun fair!

San Francisco and the Redwoods.

I think I am pretty much over the jet-lag by now and am starting to wake up a a semi-reasonable time, if 0500 can be considered reasonable, but it matches my sleep patterns at home.

Today was our last day at Hotel Boheme and we were leaving S.F. We breakfasted at Cafe Puccini which is on Columbus directly opposite Hotel Boheme. Victoria having eggs over hard while I had a mushroom and Swiss cheese omelette, both served with fried potatoes and French bread.

We checked out of the Hotel Boheme and hailed a cab for the Hertz pickup on Beech Street where we rented our Ford Focus (bargain at £150 for 6 days). I'm not keen on automatic cars but have so far only brak-celerated the once.

From here we drove out to Fort Point, an American Civil War era battery built to protect Golden Gate Bay with excellent views of the Golden Gate Bridge. I'll blog more about that on Scrivsland.

From Fort Point we picked up Highway 101 and were on the way to our next destination. After stopping for fuel at Palo Alto and some pretty bad traffic on Highway 17 we eventually reached the Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad just outside Felton.

We had originally planned to take the 14:00 Bear Mountain service but had missed that so instead purchased tiuckets for the 15:30. The place was rammed with parents and young children as they were having a 'Meet Thomas the Tank Engine' day, I iud not realise that Thomas was so big in the U.S.A.

Waiting for the train Victoria and I shared a veggie burger and fries and also had our first Root Beer of the trip. It was really hot again, the car was reading 34C so we also picked up a couple of bottles of water to take with us on the train.

We also got to try an "It's It" Icecream, inagine a giant Tunnocks Teacake with the marshmallow replaced by icecream. Very tasty, but like most American 'snack' food, I could not manage a whole one.

We soon had boardered the train and after raising steam were off. The journey only covers about eight miles but is a fantastic experience as the 100 year old wood burning steam train with the strange bevel geared drive arrangement of a Shay locomotive (I has to Wiki that) climbs up Bear Mountain through sone fantastic scenery in the Redwood Forests. The journey passes over a wooden trestle bridge and negotiates a pair of switchbacks before reaching the summit and you are allowed out to stretch your legs. At the top the track loops and then you are heading back down the way you came one again enjoying the fantastic Redwood forest. On the way down you are on the other side of the track so get the opportunity to catch anything you may have missed on the way up.

This is a great experience that I would highly recommend if you are near the area. On the walk back to the car we had another first while we shared a 'snow cone'. Imagine a 'jubblie' being made in front of you with the same 'no flavour after a few sucks icy-ness'.

We then completed our journey at the Fairview Manor Guest House in Ben Lomond, a wonderful place with a really friendly and helpful owners.

Thay evening we set out on our final adventure of the day and fulfilled one of Victorias ambitions of vsisting the Boardwalk at Santa Cruz, scene of the Lost Boys.

Taking Gail, the landladies advice we palked up on West Cliff and walked past the wharf and down onto the Boardwalk. We took in the sights,sounds and smells as we meandered among the stalls and hoardes of people there on a Saturday evening. We had hoped to ride the Giant Dipper but the queue was horrendous so we instead fulfilled another one of Victorias dreams and queued fifteen minutes for a Funnel Cake. Imagine a cake batter deep frieed like a doughnut about 7' in diameter, very tasty, but you could not manage a whole one.

We managed to avoid any Vampire encounters although one young girl did tell her parents "they are here"

I think my diet today has been sadly lacking in nutrients.

Walking back up the West Cliff we picked up the car and after a slight diversion onto Highway 17 - whoops - we were back at Ben Lomond and crashed out after another day of adventures.