Camping Part 1 - Santa Cruz

After saying goodbye to family in Benicia we headed south towards Santa Cruz to spend a few nights camping and exploring.  The drive itself was not too long and with the boys napping it went even more quickly.  We arrived in Felton right around lunch time and quickly found a great little natural foods market called New Leaf Community Market.  We picked up a couple of sandwiches, fruit, and other snacks then headed over to our campground in the redwoods above Santa Cruz.  The boys were so excited to help put up our tent and set up camp.  Within minutes they were exploring old trees, packing around sticks and pretending an old stump was a semi-truck.  We followed the trail from the campground down to the river and the boys even got to sit on the tractor used by the maintenance man, Mike.  After a simple dinner we explored the campground a bit more and found the game room with an air hockey table which they fell in love with.  Everyone settled nicely into our sleeping bags for the night and we were all looking forward to our outing the next day to Santa Cruz.

Looking up into the redwoods from our picnic table.

Sam working on his semi-truck.

Trying out the log furniture.

The boys posing with Mike's tractor.

The San Lorenzo River - just across the water is the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

Sam was a natural at air hockey.

Again, on the tractor.

After having our campsite breakfast we loaded up in the car and headed a few miles away from our campground to the Roaring Camp Railroads.  Here we boarded our train for the day's adventure. The Santa Cruz, Big Trees; Pacific Railway Company operates passenger and freight services on one of the oldest and most historic lines in California. When the route opened in 1875 it carried picnickers and tourists to the Big Trees and Santa Cruz. Today’s Beach Trains travel through Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, down the scenic San Lorenzo River Gorge, across a 1909 steel truss bridge, and through an 1875 tunnel before arriving at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. 

The boys were overjoyed to ride the train but within minutes of leaving Roaring Camp the movement of the train had lulled Sam to sleep.  The ride itself was beautiful.  Redwoods bordered the entire line and the conductor on board gave us a history of the railroad as we went along.  After just over an hour we arrived at the boardwalk.  We had a quick lunch and then set out to ride some of the kid-friendly rides.  Our first stop was the Boardwalk’s classic Looff carousel, built in 1911.  It is also one of only a handful of carousels in the world still featuring a working ring dispenser. Rings were once hand loaded by "ring boys," as the young employees were called. The process was mechanized in 1950. Steel rings are used today, with brass plated rings added on special occasions. Riders on outside horses can grab rings from a dispenser as they spin, then toss them into a large clown's gaping mouth, rewarded by bells and flashing lights. Trying to reach out and "grasp the brass ring" was even mentioned in the well-known book The Catcher in the Rye when main character Holden Caulfield takes his little sister to ride the carousel at Central Park and realizes that despite his urge to try to protect her he has to just let her lean out and reach for the brass ring because that's just what kids do.  It is this point in the novel that Holden really understands that you can't always protect kids from things out in the world nor should you. 

Needless to say, by the time Brian and I and the boys got on the carousel all of the outside horses were taken by tweens and teenagers determined to reach a ring with a leather strap being the only thing keeping them mounted on their horses as they leaned dangerously to the right as they went around.  Our boys were perfectly content riding on their inner horses round and round.

From the carousel the boys rode several other rides and loved them all equally.  We wandered out on the beach before getting back on the train and let the boys get their feet wet in the waves.  Once we were back on the train for our return trip to Roaring Camp it didn't take long for both boys to be completely conked out after such a big day.  Once we were back in Felton we made a quick trip into the market and we were headed back to our campsite with dinner ready to go.

The narrow gauge steam train at Roaring Camp.

Inside the restored coach car.

Sam was very serious early on.

Round and round we go.

The diesel engine that took us to and from the Boardwalk.

Killer whales.

Absolute happiness!

Cars and trucks and things that go!

Biplanes.

Sea dragons....finally Sam started showing his smile.

Air hockey on a big table in one of the Boardwalk's many arcades.

The Boardwalk as seen from the beach.

Getting a little wet.

Tired after a long day playing and riding.