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!

Enjoying our time in San Francisco

Carrying on from where we left of earlier.

After a short afternoon sleep to shrug off the jet-lag Victoria and I left the apartment and scaled Filbert Street (I really do mean scaled!) until we descended to Polk and found The Loving Cup, this is a Frozen Yogurt and Rice Pudding bar that Victoria has had her eye on for some time. Victoria had the coconut rice pudding while I opted for vanilla frozen yoghurt with strawberries and pineapple. Very nice they both were too and well worth the vertiginous ascent!

With our calves throbbing from the climb we elected to descend along Polk until we reached Aquatic park below Ghirardeli Square then turned right on to Beach. Passing Fishermans Wharf, at Boudin Bakery we enjoyed a sour dough bowl filled with rustic tomato soup.

Then made our way back up Mason to the apartment. Home just after 9PM and ready for a bed!

We enjoyed a light breakfast at the hipster Beacon coffee bar on Columbus, very tasty but the music was so loud that it was difficult to have your order heard.

After breakfast we walked to Taylor and bought an all day ticket for the cable cars and 'Muni' for $17.00 each. We then rode the Powell-Mason Cable Car  to Powell.

Riding the cable car is a great way to see San Francisco as you rattle along the tracks and up the steep hills.

We then walked along Market taking in the sights and sounds before boarding the California Cable Car and riding all the way up California to Van Ness.

California is a long straight run right to the top and over a very steep hill and affords beautiful views of the city right back to the Bay Bridge. At the end of the California line we walked along Sutter to JapanTown.

We enjoyed a cup of tea and a chat with some lovely locals in Benkyodo, we found out that the same family had owned the shop for over a 100 years and have been hand making Mochi daily. So of course we had to purchase a selection for later we then took a look at the 100ft structure that is the Peace Pagoda (a gift from the people of Osaka, Japan in1968) before some shopping in the Japantown Mall which is very reminiscent of Aquacity in Tokyo last year. We found the Daiso store and Victoria picked up some goodies to take home with her.

We walked back to the cable car stop and took the California Cable Car and back to Market Street and then on to the Ferry Plaza to pick up lunch.

We started with a lovely coffee at Blue Bottle which we enjoyed on the seating overlooking the bay before going back inside for a scrummy Cheese Toastie at our favourite place; the Cowgirl Creamery

Finally we had a scoop each of delicious ice cream at Humphrey Slocombe, Victoria choosing a scoop of Secret Breakfast - vanilla, cornflakes and bourbon!- while I had Toast and Jam.

Back out on the Embercadero we caught the Market Street Car to Haight and Gough. We then walked for a good forty-five minutes along lower and into upper Haight through some lovely areas with stunning looking Victorian houses and some pretty seedy places eventually passing Buena Vista Park and coming to Haight Ashbury. The legendary intersection of 60s flower power.

What a shit-hole!

After an hour or so of sight-seeing we caught the #6 back down Haight and along Market where we visited the Levi's store and purchased a pair of new jeans each, well at 30% off it's daft not to.

Feeling pretty footsore by now we caught the Embercado Street Car to Fishermans Wharf and then walked the short way back to the apartment on the junction of Columbus and Lombard.

We rested our weary feet for an hour or so before walking up to Fort Mason where they host the Off The Grid food event. Probably 30 or so food trucks laagered in a circle with bar and DJ in the centre. Walking over the bluffs above Fort Mason affords some spectacular views over San Francisco Bay including the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.

When you arrive at Off The Grid, you encounter wonderful sights and smells and some dubious sounds - the Clashs' Magnificent Seven mixed as a dance track harrumphed your correspondent!

We started of with a lovely veggie curry in a naan wrap from the Raj and Singh stall.

Next we shared a Bourbon Creme Brûlée at the Creme Brûlée cart, this was also very tasty.

We had another hour or so soaking up the atmosphere before heading back with a portion of Tots from Drewski these were tossed with garlic and rosemary.

Walking back along Bay enjoying the delicious Tots we hoped to pick up the Powell-Hyde Cable Car to the top of Lombard so we could walk down the zig-zag bit just above our apartment, but after a 20 minute wait it did not turn up so we walked home along Columbus and crashed out for the evening.

We both love San Francisco, but one thing is starting to niggle and that is the poor provision of healthcare in the United States. It seems that mental health issues in the poor are not dealt with appropriately and begging on the streets is their only option. The number of beggars in the city is shameful and society as a whole should be doing more for them.

Off to San Francisco

I had a terrible night sleep on Monday, so Tuesday was a drag at work as I struggled to keep my eyes open. However I finished work at 16:00 we soon had the car packed and were heading south.

We stopped off in Uxbridge for some supper at Zizzis', I had a lovely Rustica Pizza while Victoria had the Spaghetti Pomodoro. We finished off with a coffee and a shared Gelato before completing the final leg for that day at the Premier Inn.

Unfortunately the RCD key tripping out in the room, but apart from showering in the dark we both had a great nights sleep. Special mention for the staff at the Premier Inn on Shepiston Lane they always are very happy and helpful.

Up at 06.30 we dropped the car at Purple Parking and were soon in the Baggage Drop queue at Heathrow T5. Whoever is the Baggage Drop manager should hand their resignation in forthwith. One hour in a queue, but only half the stations manned. Come on British Airways, it's not like you don't know how many tickets you have sold on a given day.

After baggage drop we were swiftly through security and airside. Ready for breakfast we thought to give Gordon Ramseys' 'Plane Food' a try. I had the granola with yogurt and fruit, Victoria had scrambled eggs. Both were rather lovely. We polished off with a coffee and made our way to Gate B36 to board our flight to San Francisco.

After an uneventful flight and arriving at SFO we were met by our AirBnb host, Peter who drove is back to the lovely little apartment we have rented.

After dropping off the luggage we walked to Fishermans Wharf, along the Embercado and then back onto Columbus to have a very expensive cappuccino ($5.00) at Caffe Pellegrino on Washington Square. We walked up Columbus to the Hotel Boheme where we stayed on our visit last year and had a drink in the cafe opposite.

Back down Columbus we had a Bellini each at Panateri, a bargain at $3.00 and then finished off the evening with a pint of Speak Easy IPA at 901 Columbus, another Happy Hour bargain at $2.00 a pint!

It was only 2000 but given the eight hour time difference our bodies were screaming 0400, time for bed.

We both awoke at about 0230, but successfully got back to sleep and slept through to 0645.

We got showered and did some unpacking before a stroll up Columbus for a lovely breakfast at Cafe Greco. Victoria had a cream cheese bagel while I had scrambled eggs and cheese on a bagel.

We wandered through China Town and downtown having a look in the Levi's store, Bloomingdales and then into Macy's where Victoria had her brows done.

We walked along Market to the Ferry Building. At the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant www.fpwm.com I enjoyed a Fort Point Park Wheat followed by Ommegang Hennepin Saison and Victoria had a wine, a 2010 Sonoma Solstice Syrah,

Nicely refreshed we shared a Macaroni and Cheese from the Cowgirl Creamery before continuing up the Embercadero, we walked along the pier next to the San Francisco Bell paddle steamer. Carrying on we stopped at Pier 39 to enjoy the sword swallower/magician act. Then along the pier to take a look at the WWII Liberty ship and U.S.S. Pampanito then in to vintage arcades at Musee Mechanique.