Santa Cruz
Jan. 8th, 2006 11:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velessaI had a fun day with Josh in Santa Cruz this weekend. I hadn't been there in a long time, and the only reason I ever go there in the first place is to go to the Boardwalk. My parents were both very surprised that we didn't go to the Boardwalk; I guess that's the only thing my family (me included) thinks there is in Santa Cruz. But no, for once I didn't actually go to the Boardwalk; I did get to try a lot of new things instead.
First we went to the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot, which is a cabin built on a hillside at a weird angle. So the entire thing is tilted and you have to stand on a pretty big slant the whole time. There are a lot of optical illusions going on because of all the oddly slanted pieces of wood that are supposed to make you think gravity is working differently. It's kind of amusing and interesting, but it's not like it's inexplicable as they'd like you to believe. I think the enjoyment factor was maily due to the entertaining tour guide we had. ^^ What I was surprised by was how busy the place was! There were lots of people there, and this this is way back in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. I'm guessing the popularity was due to the fact that there was an article in the paper about it a few days ago; that's how I heard about it anyway. The gift shop had paperweights with real scorpions in them, eww!! >_< They should've had banana slugs, that would have been more appropriate...
After the Mystery Spot we went to the Tea House Spa. I had no idea what this was. It's a nice little place where you rent a room for an hour that has a hot tub and a sauna in it and you get tea to drink. More firsts for me because I'd never been to a place like this, I can't remember the last time I got in a hot tub, and I don't drink tea. The tea was spearmint and actually pretty good; I have this expectation that all tea is bitter and icky, which is why I'm very wary of it and reluctant to ever try it. And the hot tub was (duh) hot! I think I'm too sensitive and just don't deal well with extreme temperatures. Sitting in the water took some getting used to, although it was nice, but I couldn't stay in it for too terribly long. I think I spent more time leaning against the cool rock wall than actually submerged in the water itself. ^^;
Next we went walking around downtown Santa Cruz, which I'd also never done before. It's like an anime convention! There are lots and lots of young people, many in *cough* interesting outfits wandering around everywhere. Which makes perfect sense for the liberal college town that it is. We found a sushi place for dinner, and I tried another new thing: I ate sushi that actually had *gasp* raw fish in it for once. It tasted much as I expected...like raw fish. I ordered some sushi types that had other kinds of seafood (that were cooked), crab and prawns, yum! While I like seafood (as in shellfish), I don't actually like fish all that much, which is why when I get sushi it usually has something other than fish in it. It was really good stuff.
After dinner we found a used bookstore where I found the books I needed to fill in the missing pieces of my David Eddings series. Now all I need is Polgara the Sorceress and I'll have all of his books that I want. =)
Finally we went back to San Jose, and I had to go home so I could get up for work bright and early in the morning. All in all I had a lot of fun and thought it was a very nice way to spend the day; I wouldn't mind going back again sometime. ^_^
First we went to the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot, which is a cabin built on a hillside at a weird angle. So the entire thing is tilted and you have to stand on a pretty big slant the whole time. There are a lot of optical illusions going on because of all the oddly slanted pieces of wood that are supposed to make you think gravity is working differently. It's kind of amusing and interesting, but it's not like it's inexplicable as they'd like you to believe. I think the enjoyment factor was maily due to the entertaining tour guide we had. ^^ What I was surprised by was how busy the place was! There were lots of people there, and this this is way back in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. I'm guessing the popularity was due to the fact that there was an article in the paper about it a few days ago; that's how I heard about it anyway. The gift shop had paperweights with real scorpions in them, eww!! >_< They should've had banana slugs, that would have been more appropriate...
After the Mystery Spot we went to the Tea House Spa. I had no idea what this was. It's a nice little place where you rent a room for an hour that has a hot tub and a sauna in it and you get tea to drink. More firsts for me because I'd never been to a place like this, I can't remember the last time I got in a hot tub, and I don't drink tea. The tea was spearmint and actually pretty good; I have this expectation that all tea is bitter and icky, which is why I'm very wary of it and reluctant to ever try it. And the hot tub was (duh) hot! I think I'm too sensitive and just don't deal well with extreme temperatures. Sitting in the water took some getting used to, although it was nice, but I couldn't stay in it for too terribly long. I think I spent more time leaning against the cool rock wall than actually submerged in the water itself. ^^;
Next we went walking around downtown Santa Cruz, which I'd also never done before. It's like an anime convention! There are lots and lots of young people, many in *cough* interesting outfits wandering around everywhere. Which makes perfect sense for the liberal college town that it is. We found a sushi place for dinner, and I tried another new thing: I ate sushi that actually had *gasp* raw fish in it for once. It tasted much as I expected...like raw fish. I ordered some sushi types that had other kinds of seafood (that were cooked), crab and prawns, yum! While I like seafood (as in shellfish), I don't actually like fish all that much, which is why when I get sushi it usually has something other than fish in it. It was really good stuff.
After dinner we found a used bookstore where I found the books I needed to fill in the missing pieces of my David Eddings series. Now all I need is Polgara the Sorceress and I'll have all of his books that I want. =)
Finally we went back to San Jose, and I had to go home so I could get up for work bright and early in the morning. All in all I had a lot of fun and thought it was a very nice way to spend the day; I wouldn't mind going back again sometime. ^_^
