Thursday, June 17, 2021

48!

 Somehow we have made it from here (engagement picture--when they still printed engagement pictures in newspapers!):

To here, our wedding in Seattle:

To five wonderful days in Capitola, near Santa Cruz.

When Mark made reservations for a week in Capitola three months ago, he had no way of knowing that rather than escaping the Fresno heat, we would be leaving behind a really nice week, only to return to a record-breaking heatwave this week.

We stayed at the Capitola Venetian Hotel. I have been intrigued by this little hotel ever since seeing pictures posted by Karen of @capitolaquilter with the charming and quaint units in the background.

You see what I mean, right?
Our room was in the top level, the tan units, right in the middle behind the bright pink one. But it was only pink on the front side. From our room, it looked like this:
The walkway between our room on the left and the rooms in the middle level.
Our view of the ships.
We arrived midday on Monday, walked around a little bit, and had a great seafood dinner at the Paradise Grille.

On Tuesday, our anniversary, Mark had made reservations to ride the steam train at Roaring Camp in Felton.




These trees nearly lean into the train itself.
Old burned trestles.
California was still one week from completely reopening from the pandemic, so masks were mandatory even though we were outside. We also could not choose where to sit--we were told where to sit, and to maintain social distancing at all times. It would be interesting to know if things have changed this week, since the state pretty much reopened on June 15.


It was a beautiful afternoon, perfect for a ride on such a historic train.

We came back to the hotel and got ready for dinner at the famed Shadowbrook,  which was just a short walk from our hotel.

From the street level, you can either walk down a lot of steps, or take the trolley. We chose the trolley. This was the view from the inside.

Lush greenery on the way down.

View of the trolley track from the restaurant.

See the cute little trolley car? 

We had a lovely table on one of the patios.

Mark had swordfish and I had scallops, with creme brulee for dessert.


We took the trolley back up to the street level and enjoyed the view.

A fun little highlight when we got back to the room was that there were fireworks on the beach. I pretended someone had the show for our benefit. Ha...
Naturally we had to try to photograph a quilt with the hotel in the background, which we tried the next morning. However, even though the beach was empty, it was too windy to get good pictures. But I'm happy with the reflections in the water in the first picture.


We had gotten several recommendations to make sure we went to Gayle's Bakery. We went there for breakfast, and were impressed with some of the bakery items.

Then we headed to Half Moon Bay for lunch at Sam's Chowder House. 

Mark had had his heart set on lobster for our anniversary dinner. However, the Shadowbrook was completely out of lobster--something to do with overfishing during the pandemic and the available lobster not "being up to Shadowbrook standards." So we both chose lobster rolls for our lunch at Sam's. Yum.

We were on scenic Highway 1 again on the way back to Capitola. Of course I had a quilt in the car. Just in case there was a photo op. The lighthouse in Pescadero was the perfect place to stop.

The waves, the clouds...



And me...

On Thurdsay, we headed to Mystery Spot, a very iconic place to visit in California. It is a very bizarre place. It's been open to the public since 1940. So what is the Mystery Spot? It is an area about 150 feet in diameter located in a redwood forest just outside of Santa Cruz. We had read that the law of physics do not apply in this area. We were skeptics. What does that even mean?? 

This car was completely covered in Mystery Spot bumper stickers. Actually, it is not unusual to see at least one of these bumper stickers every week here in Fresno, most likely because they hand them out for free.

Our guide told us that even though this incline is a bit steep, it would MUCH harder to climb than would seem possible. Again, skeptical. Until we started climbing. Seriously we could hardly make it up to the next level. So weird.
Over and over, the guide used a level to show us that, contrary to what our eyes were telling us, things were actually level. 

When we made it to this house, Mark (who can easily get dizzy) had to hold on for dear life with a minute or two and even felt nauseous. 
This board was level, and yet when our guide put a ball on it, it rolled to the right, stopped, and then rolled to the left, without ever being touched. 

We had to hold on to the railings to get out.of.this.house!
There were beautiful fuchsias growing. They seemed unaffected by the weird gravitational pull in this area, but wow, what a weird place.
So we headed back to the Shadowbrook for pizza for lunch--which turned out to be the cheapest meal of our entire stay.
 
Dairy Queens are hard to find in our area, but they are one of Mark's very favorites. There was a Dairy Queen about half a mile from our hotel, and Mark went there two days in a row, once for a peanut buster bar and the next day for a Blizzard. It was undoubtedly one of the highlights for him. 


Karen @capitolaquilter was able to meet us for happy hour, which was a huge highlight for me.
This bridge was just across the street from us. Next year (Mark says we will celebrate 49 at the Venetian next year too) we will spend more time exploring.

On the way out of town on Friday, we found a bench that overlooked Capitola (a favorite photo spot recommended by Karen).
We ended our lovely coast time with lunch on the wharf at Monterey and headed back home. 
I made the best decision of my life when I chased this man in college until he asked me out. Here's to a great week and many more years. :) 



10 comments:

05 08
Robby said... #

Congratulations... to both of you. It looks like a fun trip that created more memories to add to your years together. Obviously, "Third Time's the Charm" doesn't apply to you guys, but how nice to get fun photos of that on your anniversary trip. BTW, I'm with Mark on the Buster Bars. In fact, this weekend may be a good time for me to have one. It should finally have cooled down enough to be able to eat it before it falls off the stick! Happy Anniversary!

Deb Cox said... #

oh congratulations to you both. thanks for sharing and you both look great and so happy. here's to a bunch more years for you 2. (-:

Deb E said... #

Congratulations on your 48th Anniversary! Looks like it was a lovely trip. We went to the Mystery Spot many years ago, and we still vividly remember how weird it was. We just celebrated our 47th anniversary last month. Hard to believe we've been married that long, it passed by so quickly. Deb E

Shelly said... #

Congratulations! Love all these pictures, and I’m so glad you had a great celebration week.

Janice Porter said... #

Great pics Cindy! So much fun for you two! Love you guys!

Rochelle aka Bella Quilts said... #

Congratulations. Your trip looks so wonderful. Dairy Queen is just down the street from me and a Blizzard sounds great this week. Love all the photos of the things you did and the quilts.

Anne / Springleaf Studios said... #

Congratulations!!! 48 years is amazing. You must have been 12 when you got married but I guess that's ok since it worked out. haha. I'm glad you got away and had such a lovely time. The Mystery Spot seems quite intriguing. Love love the wedding ring quilt photos at the lighthouse. It's one of my all time fav quilts of yours.

French 75 said... #

Congratulations on your excellent decision! And, of course, your anniversary. Your getaway looks fabulous. I always enjoy seeing your quilts in the wild.
xo

Anonymous said... #

Great trip! Seems that there were a lot of wonderful things to do. Great way to celebrate. Thanks for sharing!

Needled Mom said... #

Happy 48! It looks like an incredible trip and great place for photo ops. The quilt pics look great too.