The Beach, Dogs and 24601!!

So this past week, I got to go to Santa Cruz for a week long beach trip with Kris' family. We did this a couple of years ago and it was a lot of fun, even though I was sick the last time. Thankfully however, I felt fine this time and got to enjoy every second of the vacation!

Where to start? So we got to the beach the first day and it was sunny and warm but by the time Kris and I got there, it was already pretty late so we just hung out in the beach house. The house is right on the shore, with direct access down from the balcony so it was really nice...

This was the view from the bedroom window. Falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves every night is pretty amazing. I wish I could bring that spot with me whenever I wanted to take a nap!

The first night we were there, Kris' sister and brother in law came down and they brought a birthday cake for Karen (Kris' mom) so we all got to have some yummy cake with dinner.

The next day was a gloomy one. The sun never really came out so everyone mostly stayed inside. Kris and I spent most of the day driving around, getting things from the store and relaxing when we got back. We did eventually go take our first walk out on the beach... it was nice just to breath in the air and listen to the waves crashing into the shore.

The next day is when the fun really started. Kris has wanted to try paddle boarding for a long time. I thought he just wanted to float around a lake or a pond, but then he says he wants to try it in the ocean! If that wasn't crazy enough, he then said he thinks it would be easier to try and surf on the paddle board since you are already standing up... Yeah... So I have surfed before, I am no expert but I have surfed. Having surfed, I know just how mean the ocean can be so I broke it to Kris that there is no good way to surf while already standing unless you are super pro at it-- which neither of us were. So I talk him into getting surf board instead. I could teach him how to stand up and paddle and catch the right waves, which meant he would have to listen to me...which is apparently impossible for him in these situations. We go and get the surfboards, where the guy renting them to us says we are wasting our money because there are no waves. Well, he couldn't have been more right and more wrong at the same time. There were waves, waves like I have never seen! These waves were never ending! One right after the other, with only a few seconds in between and they were strong too! Like I said, I have surfed before and most of it is sitting and waiting for a wave to come, but we couldn't even sit on our board because another wave would crash into us sending us spinning under water. Now, I -- having surfed before, recognized that this was hopeless pretty early on, but my stubborn boyfriend decided that he was a professional surfer already and could tackle these impossible waves. I had to go back out into the death zone to convince him to come back in. After we both swallowed most of the ocean, nearly got decapitated by our boards and crawled back onto the shore on all fours...we gave up. It was not a very pleasant experience. So yes surfer rental guy, we did waste our money, but not because there weren't any waves!

Its hard to tell in those pictures...but it was an ugly experience. Take my word for it!

So after that bit of "fun", Kris and I spent the rest of the day nursing out beaten bodies with rest and junk food. Next time, hopefully will be better!

The following day (Tuesday), we planned on heading into the city to see Batman in a true IMAX theater, which Kris had never been to. We got there and all I could think about while watching it was the horrible incident in Colorado, so I don't think I enjoyed the movie as much as I could have. Anyway, it was a good movie and Kris liked seeing it on the Big, big screen. After that, we decided to walk around the huge mall there and window shop. Kris however, insisted that we get our jackets from the car first. I couldn't understand why because it was pretty warm outside and we were going to be in the mall anyway; but we went to the car because he insisted. Now before I go on, I will say that while we were driving to SF, I got a few texts from various people wishing me a happy birthday...most of you know its not until August 22nd, so you can imagine that I was slightly confused. Then they all said facebook was saying it was my birthday so I took it as a computer glich and didn't think much more about it. That is until, Kris and I got back to his car to get the jackets. He opened his trunk and said  "Well, since everyone thinks its your birthday, then I guess you will get a present early." And then he pulls out this super cute jacket from the car. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my jacket but it seemed like a lot of trouble to go to for just a jacket...yet, once again...I didn't think too much of it. We walked into the mall and did not get to far when I felt something in the pocket of my brand new, super cute jacket. I fished around and pulled out and envelope. Inside were two tickets to see Les Miserables at the Orpheum theater that night! I loveeeee that play! Kris apparently had the tickets since November and had been planning all of this since then! I was so flipping excited! We continued to walk around the mall for a while as we waited to head to the play. Kris got me some chocolate from Godiva which is always delicious and we got other things here and there. Then we left and headed to what I thought would be the theater...instead we ended up at the Salt House, a delicious restaurant where Kris had made reservations! I sometimes can't believe how sweet he is and how much he spoils me! So we eat oysters and salmon. We drank fruity drinks (mine was virgin) and enjoy the cool little place that he suprised me with.

 After we were done, our waiter hailed a cab for us and we were off to the theater! I was so excited to go and see the play, I knew it would be a whole different experience from when I first saw it on Broadway. The stage in SF is a lot smaller so the setting would need to be altered and of course different actors always mean different portrayals of the characters. The sets ended up being really cool, the illusions they used to make the areas look bigger were awesome. Jean Valjean was amazing to say the least! The only part I didn't really enjoy was the actresses who played young and old Cosette. They both had weird voices that didn't seem to fit the songs. All in all though, it was a wonderful representation of Victor Hugo's classic and I am so glad I got to go! Thank you love!

By the time we got back to the beach house, we were both exhausted. We were still sore from the surfing fiasco the day before and now we had sore feet and headaches from movies and plays. Overall though, we had a great time. Kris even enjoyed the play a bit! Haha and that is saying something!

The following day was expected be another busy one but in a good way, a lot of the things fell through so it was more relaxing then we thought. A few weeks before, I won concert tickets to see Kelly Clarkson (who I wasn't really interested in) and the Fray (who I wanted to see) as a qualifying prize for something else (which I did not win). The concert was on Wednesday and Kris and I were going to go just because we had free tickets and, well, why not? Well the issue was, the radio station I won them from, mailed them to my house, only I wasn't at my house, I was at the beach. So driving three hours away to get them seemed like a big deal but we were still planning on it. I get a call later from the station saying that actually sent us four tickets because they had some extras. In my mind, this made the trip a bit more worth while because we could make it a group thing. Well, when Wednesday came around, Kris was not really interested in going anymore-- his cousin Stefanie and her husband (Chris Bell and one of Kris' best friends) came down to the beach house for a visit. I could tell Kris just wanted to hang out there, but I decided I was still going to go. That is, until I called my brother and have him tell me what seats we had for the concert. To my surprise, they were horrible seats and not only that, the station only sent us the two tickets! At that point, I knew other people who wanted to go with us so I instead told them to go ahead and use the tickets and I would stay at the beach. That was the plan until another person backed out and only my friend Kayleigh was willing to go to the concert. Not wanting to go alone, she ended up letting it slip by and the tickets went to waste. Honestly though, no one really cared because they were free, crappy seats and a big hassle. So instead, Kris and I hung out on the beach the rest of the day, hanging out with Stef and Bell and their little baby girl, Rowen. I am glad that that's how it all ended up, because the past few days were so busy, it was nice just to chill out.

The other good thing about not going to the concert is I got to see Kris go skim boarding, which he is actually pretty good at; however, he still had some awesome wipeouts that I was lucky enough to capture with my camera:

It was rather fun watching him show his stuff. He had told me for a long time that he was good at it but I never got to witness it until that point.

Before I go on, I forgot to mention that that second night we were there, someone a few houses down started setting off fireworks from the shore line, so we got a bit a of show over the ocean...it was pretty cool!

That was the best photo I could get with my phone...but you can see the waves just below.

Okay, wow this is a long post! So, whats next? Ahh yes! Capitola and the board walk! On Thursday, Kris and I went to Capitola to eat at one of our favorite places over there, Zelda's. Sadly they changed their menu a bit so it wasn't quite the same, still good though. The other sucky thing it, Kris and I both felt crappy, him from drinking a lot of seawater while skim boarding and me...well I don't know why I was. We still enjoyed walking around, looking in the shops. I got some cute toe rings and some fun rubber ducks for my Aunt Eileen, whose birthday was a couple of days ago. After all that, we ate some ice cream and headed off to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk where we met up with Kris's sister and brother in law.

At the boardwalk, we did all the usual fun things. We went and played mini golf, then we went on the bumper cars, where I beat everyone!

 After that we went on the Ferris wheel, it was fun but rather cold up there next to the ocean!

 

Once we got off the Ferris wheel, Kris and decided to get some food. We are big fans of corn dogs so we thought we could get a couple of those-- which was a great plan until an employee put in an order for 15 corn dogs right before us so we ended up waiting for 30 minutes just to get two! They felt bad for us though and threw in an extra one for our trouble. After eating we did various games and rides. The best one however was the Giant Dipper, which is the old roller coaster at that boardwalk. It wasn't the best because it was more fun than the other rides...it was the best because of the picture that came with riding it....

We had quite a few people commenting on our photo hahaha.

To end the day we took a ride on the merry-go-round, only because they have a game where if you sit on the outer edge, you can grab these rings and try to throw them into this clown mouth. I never played before and I still didn't get the chance to because the ring dispenser thing broke right when  we got on. It was still fun though.

 The last day at the beach was complete relaxation. We didn't do anything except for sit in the sand and soak up the sun. I am glad too because I was pooped from the day before. 

Now, you may think this would be the end of my post...finally, right? Nope! Because we had yet one more adventure the next day when were supposed to be coming home. Kris and I got the car all packed up and headed out from the beach, only to get maybe a mile away when I made Kris stop the car. No, we did not forget anything (I think), but we did see a dog running in and out of the road. Now, anyone who knows me, knows I am a bleeding heart for animals, thus why I had a zoo in the house while growing up. So I get out of the car and go towards the dog, who doesn't bark or growl...he just whimpers and bit and walks towards me. The sweet old guy had a graying muzzle and adorable eyes. He instantly starts licking my hand and wagging his tail. He didn't have a collar but he had just been recently treated for fleas because he had a flea collar on. I took him around to all the houses around there, asking if anyone knew him. Sadly, no one knew where he came from but they all thought he was a sweet dog. Finally, after two hours of searching, Kris (who was not thrilled by this turn of events) let me bring the dog into the car so we could take him to the Santa Cruz shelter. The puppy was so good in the car, just laid on the floor quietly and didn't move-- which was really good because if he was hyper, Kris may not have let him in. We got to the shelter and all the ladies there fell in love with him instantly, they said if no one claims him, he should have no problem getting adopted. I am glad that we stopped, and I am glad Kris let me save the poor old puppy. I got an ID number for the dog so I can keep track of him at the shelter and see if he gets claimed or adopted. I hope he does because it wasn't a "no kill" shelter and I would feel awful if the guy got put down! Then he might have been better off staying lost...who knows. Anyway, if he doesn't get adopted and anyone wants an old sweet, lab mix... I got the dog for you!

Okay...so I think that is it! Really! Its over! Long post over! Sorry for my writing style in this one (or lack there of). My head is in a fog today but I was determined to get this all on here today! I have other stuff to post about stuff the past couple of days but it can wait. I hope you all survived this read! Have a good one!