Ride to Monterey

Earlier this week, Darlene and I made a little two-day, round-trip bike excursion to Monterey and back from Santa Cruz.  It worked out to about 101 miles round trip from my place in the hills near Scotts Valley.  We had actually intended to go down on Monday, hang out on Tuesday and return Wednesday but as we weren’t really ready to go until late Monday afternoon, with two hours of sunlight left…. oops!  So, Tuesday morning we finally headed out.

It’s a common route and except for a couple of miles around Moss Landing, you stay off of Highway 1.  And in fact, there’s a great bike trail that runs from Castroville all the way into Monterey which we didn’t know about until we stumbled on to it en route.

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We had great weather both days and a lovely ride and stayed overnight at the inexpensive but nice Cannery Row Inn – across from San Carlos Beach and The Breakwater (a popular SCUBA diving spot).

Kayaking in Santa Cruz

Another fun day out kayaking in Santa Cruz with the Bay Area Outdoor Adventure Club and guided by Venture Quest Kayaking. We started out from the Santa Cruz pier and went around the lighthouse to Natural Bridges State Park to stop for lunch before returning with the help of some handheld sails.  Saw lots of sea otters among the kelp along the way!

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