Subtitle: I had a quick trip out to Santa Cruz for work. Early flight out to the San Francisco airport one day, drive down to Santa Cruz via Highway 1. Then the next day set up a system, get a tour of Santa Cruz and take the red-eye flight back. Then take a day to recover. This was July 28-29, 2016 (technically, I arrived back in Ithaca the morning of July 30). 000-DSC_8784-header: The Ordeal of Getting the Rental Car 000-DSC_8784-headertext: I spent a about an hour and a quarter waiting in line to get my car at Budget at the San Francisco airport. It was crazy. The line went out of the room, out the door, to the garage and then turned back. The group around me had a good sense of humor which helped. When I got to the front of the line, I asked if there was something unusual going on. The attendant said no and that it's not unusual for the wait to be two hours! that 000-DSC_8784: This is the line from the doorway that enters the room with the rental car companies. I had already been waiting for 20 minutes to get to this point. 001-DSC_8785: 002-DSC_8787: This is a blurry picture I took using the live view mode. The sign says "It all starts here." After 45 minutes, we had finally reached the beginning of the line. My neighbors were giving a jovial thumbs up. 003-DSC_8788-header: Highway 1 Near Half-Moon Bay 003-DSC_8788-headertext: I drove from SFO to Santa Cruz via Highway 1. It's a scenic road that hugs the coast. There are various pull-offs as well as a few state beaches and parks. I stopped a few times along the way. 003-DSC_8788: Coastal fog obscurs half the mountains at a beach by Half-Moon Bay. 004-DSC_8789: A view of the water and the fog beyond the fenced grassy area by Half-Moon Bay. 005-DSC_8790: 006-DSC_8791: Pescadero State Beach 007-DSC_8792: Views of the Ocean from Pescadero State Beach 008-DSC_8793: 009-DSC_8794: 010-DSC_8795: 011-DSC_8796: A trail heading down to the ocean. 012-DSC_8797: 013-DSC_8798: Water from the Pacific Ocean breaking over the rocks beyond the beach. 014-DSC_8799: 015-DSC_8802: A family fishes and hangs out near the beach. One person is climbing the rocks above. 016-DSC_8804: Steps leading down to the beach. 017-DSC_8805: A path that goes to the rocks over the beach. 018-DSC_8809: 019-DSC_8813: A view from on top of the rocks. The fishing pole and a bit of a blanket from the family fom a previous picture is visible by the edge of the rocks. I'm now on the opposite side looking back. 020-DSC_8815: A nice view of the beach, ocean, and hillside. 021-DSC_8816: 022-DSC_8817: A wooden thingy on the beach. I have no idea what it is. 023-DSC_8818: 024-DSC_8819: The making of a picture. Later, I offered to take a picture of the two of them together (they happily accepted). 025-DSC_8820: Later on, I stopped at (but did not go in to) a lighthouse just off of Hightway 1. 026-DSC_8821: The water by the lighthouse looked incredibly blue. 027-DSC_8831-header: UCSC 027-DSC_8831-headertext: 027-DSC_8831: A woman was sitting on a bench looking out into the foggy haze that was the sky. Her white hair against the black dress (or jacket?) was quite striking. Unfortunately, she was smoking which kind of ruined the moment. 027-ucsc-panorama: Panoramic view looking west to Santa Cruz and the ocean from a hillside overlook on the University of California Santa Cruz campus. Note the woman sitting on the bench on the far right. 028-DSC_8843-header: Santa Cruz Wharf 028-DSC_8843-headertext: I had lunch on Friday at the Santa Cruz wharf. It's the size of a city street, with stores and restaurants on it. It feels like you're on land and not on a big, long, wide dock. Also, there are seals around and under it. 028-DSC_8843: Looking out towards the end of the wharf. The clouds in the distance might be the normal marine layer fog or it could be smoke from the forest fires that are burning in Big Sur. Don't know. 029-DSC_8844: Looking straight out. 030-DSC_8845: 031-DSC_8846: The Santa Cruz Boardwalk with an amusement park. 032-DSC_8847: Looking back down the wharf towards the amusement park. 033-DSC_8848: Sea gull and boats. 034-DSC_8849: Mysterious fog. 035-DSC_8850: Another view of the amusement park. 036-DSC_8851: The other side of the wharf (facing north/west-ish) 037-DSC_8852: 038-DSC_8853: A wharf seal! 039-DSC_8854: Another shot of a seal under the wharf. 040-DSC_8856-header: A Quick Tour of the Town 040-DSC_8856-headertext: I got a quick tour of the area from a co-worker who lives there. 040-DSC_8856: Public beach. 041-DSC_8857: Downtown area. 042-DSC_8858: More downtown, but I like the "fall off bike zone" sign. 043-DSC_8860: Crossing a bridge over one of the rivers by a marina. 044-DSC_8862: Public beach. 045-DSC_8863: 046-DSC_8865: Surfing is popular in Santa Cruz. We saw a bunch of people in wetsuits carrying surf boards, walking to or from the water. 047-DSC_8867: A not-public beach (otherwise known as private). 048-DSC_8869-header: Wilder Ranch State Park 048-DSC_8869-headertext: Wilder Ranch is not, in fact, measurably more wild than some of the other ranches in the area, but rather the land was originally purchased by Deloss D. Wilder (who may very well have been wilder than other ranchers for all I know), in 1871, hence the name. California turned it into a state park in 1974. All this I got from the photo I took of the information board and map. I walked on the Old Cove Landing Trial to the bluffs, but only walked for maybe 20 minutes before turning back, since I needed to get dinner at a reasonable time and get to the SFO airport in a reasonable time. 048-DSC_8869: Everything I know (and more) about about the Wilder Ranch 049-DSC_8870: The path I took crossed railroad tracks. 050-DSC_8872: A picture looking down the tracks one way. 051-DSC_8874: And another shot, looking the other direction, with a lower point of view, catching some light reflecting off the rails. 052-DSC_8875: The path wound towards the ocean to the right, but there were scenic 'valleys' off to the left. Pretty. 053-DSC_8884: Some wildflowers adding a little white and yellow to the green base. 054-DSC_8886: A bright purple plant (something bur-like?). 055-DSC_8887: More purple flower things. 055-wilder-panorama: A panorama of the Wilder Ranch State Park. The trail I was on is at the far right. Eventually it would go to the water which would be to the right of it, but I didn't go that far. 056-DSC_8890-header: More Ocean Views from Highway 1 056-DSC_8890-headertext: On the way to the airport, I drove back along Highway 1. This time it was a bit foggier.

Here's are two animated GIFs of waves.


Wave 1


Wave 2

056-DSC_8890: The highway looked cool, hugging the coast and fading into the fog. 071-DSC_8909-header: The San Francisco Airport 071-DSC_8909-headertext: I got to the airport around 9:30 or so at night. I had a midngiht (12:30 actually) flight back home. 071-DSC_8909: The control tower at night at SFO. 072-DSC_8910: The view of the SFO airport and its ground lights from the airtrain that goes from the terminals to the parking facility.