Wow, what a week! This is my first time to Santa Cruz and Josh did not disappoint, he gave my friend Diana and I quite the tour of Santa Cruz this past week! Let me share a recap all the fun things we did our first week in Santa Cruz!

August 13 - Arrive in Santa Cruz

• 1st stop… In -N-Out
  I ordered a Double Double & strawberry milkshake, what more do you need? 😋

August 14

• Downtown Santa Cruz
  The downtown is a few blocks long, with few local shops, no big names and lots of restaurants and local performers playing on the sidewalks

  • Brunch at Walnut Avenue Cafe
    I ordered a delicious tuna ahi benedict, which was delicious!

• Lighthouse State Park
  This is such a cute local dog park, perfect for Josh’s dog Ivy!

• Hiking at the Land of Medicine Buddha - Soquel, CA
  We visited the Land of the Medicine Buddha and hiked the 5.6 mile trail in the Redwood Forest! The trail was a lot of fun, we went throughout the Redwood Forest and came upon some Buddhist relics along the way.
  The day before Josh had kept talking about signs and how they manifest themselves. Earlier that day, Diana had wanted to buy Pokémon socks, but dropped them along the way and sadly did not. If you look at shrine photo, there is a pokeball… if that is not a sign, I don’t know what is!!

• Dinner at in the West End at West End Tavern
  I met Josh’s sister for the first time, after knowing him for 6 years!

August 15

• Santa Cruz Farmer’s Market - local farmers and artisans selling their produce and goods with some live local music

• Tamales & Pan Dulce at El Rosal Bakery
  This bakery had a HUGE variety of different types of pan (spanish for bread), they were all so pretty and tasty! They rate themselves for having the #1 tamale in town, they were not my #1 but pretty tasty!

• Santa Cruz Wharf

  • Drinks at Makai Island Kitchen & Groggery
    This cute Hawaiian restaurant is super cute with fun decor and drinks! While sitting at the bar, my friends & I thought we were going crazy, but the entire back room rotates! If you go, I recommend getting a fun drink and sitting at the bar in that room!

• Santa Cruz Boardwalk - boardwalk rides, games and boardwalk food!

• Capitola - cute part of town with cute shops and restaurants

August 16

• Dinner at The Crow’s Nest - cute little spot for Happy Hour at Twin Lakes State Beach overlooking the beach

• Drinks (and open mic nite) at MeloMelo Kava Bar
  We downtown with the intention of getting cookies and ended up at this Kava bar, not realizing that it was not an alcohol bar but a kava bar. For those of you who don't know what kava is, it is a psychedelic root that literally means “intoxicating pepper.” According to WebMD, “kava contains substances called kavapyrones. They act much like alcohol on your brain, making you feel calm, relaxed, and happy. The plant is also thought to relieve pain, prevent seizures, and relax muscles.”

• Cookies from Pacific Cookie Company
  The sweet aroma of cookies fills the store as soon as you walk in, there is a fun variety of cookies, my favorite was the “Almond Joe” - a twist of your classic chocolate chip cookie with nuts and coconut shreds, yummy! This reminded me of Diddy Reese cookies in Westwood, CA, however more flavors and the option of ice cream from local ice cream company, Marianne’s!

August 18

• Hiking at Fall Creek State Park at Henry Cowell Redwoods Park in Felton, CA

August 19

• Bonfire at Black Point Beach in Twin Lakes State Beach
  This was my first bon fire at the beach, it was COLD, but so much fun!

• Matt & Lisa Arrive from NJ
  We had a few more friends arrive

August 20

• Photoshoot at Seabright Beach
  I had a photoshoot with Paul EyeOn Photography, he was such a blast to shoot with and we got some great photos!
  Check out the photos here: https://www.elizabethtam.com/blog/2021/8/23/photoshoot-at-seabright-beach

• Dinner & Drinks at the Crow’s Nest

• Diana heads home 😢

That’s it for week 1 in Santa Cruz! Stay tuned for what we do in week 2 and please share any recs you may have on things to do and places to see!