Family Vacation, Part 2: Santa Cruz

Day 3: We went to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in Felton. We hiked around on our own for a bit, then we went on the popular Redwood Loop Trail. The trees were so huge and it was fun learning about them. After that, we went to Natural Bridges State Beach and admired the view. Then, we headed over to the Santa Cruz Wharf for our Thanksgiving dinner.

This tree was growing when Jesus was on the earth!

It was crazy to look at the timeline and realize how old these trees really are!

I read about banana slugs on Yelp, but doubted we'd actually see any. I was wrong - they were all over the place!

"The Giant" - Over 270 feet tall and 17 feet wide, almost as tall as a 25 story building!!!

I look tiny!

Some of the trees got hollowed out when there were fires. The Fremont tree was especially neat to go into!

After the Redwoods, we went to Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz. I hadn't realized this, but Ricky and I have been there multiple times before, we just always called it cliff beach.

Natural Bridges

The sky was beautiful!

Then we went to the Santa Cruz wharf, where we ended up eating our Thanksgiving dinner. The place we went to dinner had a Thanksgiving special, and it was packed! I was thinking the locals go there for Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious!

A view of the Boardwalk from the wharf

The sea lions were waking up from their naps and we were wondering how they got up there. We think they got up there when the tide was high, and then it got lower as they were napping.

We decided on Firefish Grill for our Thanksgiving dinner this year. They had their normal menu, as well as a Thanksgiving special. My dad and I got the Thanksgiving special - a turkey dinner with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, yams, cranberry sauce, and a slice of pumpkin pie, which was amazing!

Day 4: My family's last day in San Jose. I had to go back to work and Ricky had to get back to studying for the CPA. My family went to the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose. Then, my mom cooked us spaghetti dinner in my apartment. I ran to Savers with Brian and Brittany to get more chairs, which we needed! We found a nice pair of wooden chairs for $5 each. Ricky still used his desk chair and I used the ottoman. Next time, we'll need to see about getting a bigger table!