A walkabout

Hello,
As of this update I have been in Santa Cruz for a month. I have gotten settled into the house properly, taken a nice (and lucky!) job at a Patagonia outlet (a cool place with awesome people, more pictures to come), and have spent a good deal of time walking or biking around town. Santa Cruz is all and all and pretty small town and from our place on Pearl Street I can walk to just about anywhere within an hour, and bike just as about as fast as I can drive (huzzah for Cal's bike friendly roads). So, to save money and to get into summer beach swimwear shape, I have shunned the truck and have used green alternatives to getting around. The photos on this post are from a typical walk down to the Lighthouse and back from the house, about a 3 mile round trip. And like so many days since I've been here (and all on the west coast know what I am taking about) it was a cold and wet day. The first shot is of the eastern side of the Boardwalk (an historic family amusement park) from the tressle bridge crossing the San Lorenzo River (which runs through SC).




On the other side of the tressle bridge, a look at the famous wooden roller coaster - the Big Dipper. No, I haven't ridden it yet but it looks awesome.

















Keep on going a mile down the beach, past the boardwalk and the dozens of volleyball courts, and up west cliff and you come to a wide walkwalk overlooking the wharf and Cowell's break. This is where I went surfing for the first time. Cowell's is the beginner's break in town and I was lucky enough one day to be offered a free board and wetsuit rental. I said "hell yes, please!" and walked it down to the beach looking very fine in my tight wetsuit and longboard. After that point, I'm afraid the coolness stopped as I proceeded to learn the hard way how to surf by getting thrashed (well, as much as you can on waist high waves) and then not making that mistake again. However, by the time I was too tired to paddle anymore I had successfully stood up several times and even executed a small bottom turn. Not bad for teaching myself. It really was an awesome time and I've met a few people since then that have offered to take me out again, but the opportunity has not been there yet. Hopefully I'll snag someone to take some shots.




The end of the wharf. I like to walk down to the tip of the wharf and look down the holes cut in the decking to see the sea lions perched on the platforms. They climb up there when the tide is in and then relax while the tide is out.
















Continue walking down west cliff and you come to Lighthouse Point and the famous surf spot, Steamer Lane. Anyday there will always be someone out there surfing, and its fun to go hang out and watch the action, though hear that the surfers call them vultures. The Lighthouse is actually a surfing museum and along the walkway there are memorials to both those that have died surfing Steamers and those who have excelled at it.



And here's a set at Steamer. Looks like so much fun.....









A few other updates:
* I have registered for summer school at UCSC and am now working the dance to find the best hours for work and school.
* Just the other day I rode my bike up to Henry Cowell Redwood State Park and walked among the famous redwood grove. A beautiful place.
* Right now I am at a fellow Patagonia employee's residence catsitting. I'm using her wireless and it is amazingly fast for uploading pictures. Not a wild Friday night in Santa Cruz, but I have to work in the morning and was up late last night having a dinner party with a few friends. Only in California will you work 4 hours to make and eat organic lasagna (It was delicish).

All for now. Take care!

Erin

Hey folks... It's me, Bhodi. Sorry that I won't have much to say in this posting, but Erin took care of it all on her own while I was busy getting ready for my Summer sailing season on the Appledore IV and dealing with my licensing issues.

Anyway.. I think that my love did a GREAT job on this one, so for more from me, you will just have to check back for more info on my time on the lakes this Summer.

Cheers!

--Bhodi

229 Pearl Street, our new home...


After nearly two weeks on the road, visiting friends and family along the way, my tired but resilient truck pulls onto Pearl Street, Santa Cruz, CA. We don't get to move in right away, as the previous tenants still haven't moved out, so we hunker down in the smaller house in the back of the lot and take in our surroundings. Unfortunately, the part of the coast was experiencing torrential downpours, even for the rainy season, so we moved quickly from one sight to the next. Because the rain, we didn't take many shots of the town, so those will be included in an upcoming post. This one is all about the new house...


A shot of the front taken from Pearl Street. We have our own driveway (yeah!!! It's amazing how the simple things will excite you.). The front lawn is essential one big garden that will come into its own after a little TLC from a hired gardener (paid for by the landlord). There is a narrow pathway to the left that leads back to another garden and the other, smaller house. And yes, that is a white pickett fence. :)






The home entertainment/studying center. For those of you from the Lady/Bill/Chieftain, you might recognize the Tiki (from the mizzen truck of the Chieftain in Sacramento). He feels right at home in Santa Cruz.
















Kitchen. Nice, large, but has ants (you see the blue spray can on the right). Its a continuing battle.











Ahh... how I've dreamed of having my own expresso machine (a gift from my mom). I swear this puppy will keep me away from expensive fru, fru drinks at Starbucks.











Nice, warm wood stove. Gives Bhodi an outlet for his playing-with-fire urges.


















Speaking of which, a self portrait. The ladder leads up into the sleeping loft.
















The loft. About four feet of head clearance at the peak, with two skylights over the mattress. The loft is located right over the wood stove so its nice and cozy. The Pride scarf is covering a small window that overlooks the back garden.











Its unbelievable how many books I have, and these are just mine. This shot, as you can guess, was taken from the loft. The sides of the loft are open, so rolling out of the bed has some serious consequences.















And if you came to visit us, this is where we would put you, the outer bedroom. This small skylight lit box came with the house and we are using it for storage, but with a little work it could convert nicely to a guest room (it's carpeted and insulated). For those of you that are claustrophobic, we also have a futon that is open.







And now, the star of the show... Foxy, our new kitten. It was very hard for Bhodi and I to get these photos, as she rarely stays still for a moment. We adopted her from the SPCA and she took to us and the house surprisingly quick. She's a year old and definitely has a mind of her own. Also quite the acrobat, she kept me up all last night by bringing her toys up into the loft and playing with them until I finally stuffed them all under the mattress.











The queen atop her cave.













Such a cute kitty. We both feel lucky to have found her.








And that's it for now. More pictures to come of Santa Cruz, the university, and hopefully of me in my new sport: surf kayaking. Take care!

In Florida....

<--- My family= top row: Bhodi, me, Aunt Rose, Christina, Mom; bottom row: Uncle Jim, Cousin Jon, Dad (gotta love that shot).

Good day friends and family! Long time, and no blogging. Here's the scoop on our happenings since Bhodi and I departed France. After a really long day and a half of travelling we arrived in Tampa Bay, Florida, minus half our baggage but warmly greeted by my family. I have to say I was a little apprehensive about the finacee-family meeting, as Bhodi was literally meeting my whole family at once, since the Christmas party was hosted by my parents this year (some 40 odd relatives attending). But it went great, topped by a champagne toast by my parents to our engagement (a near teary moment for me). Then to Jacksonville to visit with Bhodi's family and then back to Tampa Bay for New Years. Initially, our time in Florida was planned to be a visit between sailing gigs. However, the positions we were offered out west fell through and we decided to stay on in Florida for three months.



However, we didn't just twiddle our thumbs. We both took jobs on land and in between, spent time with the folks and took advantage of our Christmas present from them: season passes to Busch Gardens!


Bhodi's favorite roller coaster: Montu








































Dad and I with Lory birds on our shoulders. They line up all day if you have this small cup of liquid sugar (which costs 3 bucks by the way).
Makes me wonder what kind of withdrawl these birds would have if we took it away.

And, you cannot be in Tampa Bay in February and miss one of its biggest festivals - Gasparilla. All the people you see on this barge/pirate ship are the city's wealthest/most successful businessmen and women. Today is there day to get drunk and stand up in the "rigging" with unlanyarded beer bottles. Ouch.

At the end of March, with my acceptance into the geophysics graduate department of University of California, Santa Cruz, Bhodi and I packed our bags, bought a topper for my little energizer bunny Isuzu truck, and took another trip across America: 3,250 miles long.