Santa Cruz

Today we headed to Santa Cruz bright and early (8am) in hopes of avoiding traffic. Which we did and it only took us a little over an hour! This past week has been over a 100 everyday so I thought the beach would be perfect! We had lots of fun but it was overcast and in the 70s! So chillier than ideal but it worked! Our first stop was the pier (the longest on the west coast) where we watched fisherman, window shopped, stopped at a candy store (apprently a theme in our CA day trips) and best of all saw the sea lions! We first saw them from the side of the pier looking back but as we went down the pier they had openings for us to look in! We could see them bark, swim, lay and slide up and down the pier posts! So cool but a little gross! We then went to the beach to play in the water, build sand castles and eat lunch. We followed that up by getting changed into dry clothes and then heading down the wharf to the Boardwalk Amusement   Park where the each of the kids rode a few rides. Then we headed home with no traffic! Best day of driving in CA yet!