California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

California Road Trip: Lazy Days on the PCH

[shareaholic app=”share_buttons” id=”20872686″]

When my sister-in-law and I started batting around the idea of a family weekend on the California coast, we initially set our sights north of the Bay Area. But a quick look on Airbnb returned very few (if any) homes near Point Reyes that could accommodate 10 people, so we began to expand our search option to include the south, too. Then, Lisa found a four-bedroom house just a few blocks from the coast in Santa Cruz, where she went to college, and less than a week later, that’s where we were headed.

California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

I’ll admit initial reaction was one of hesitation. In the past, I’d been to Santa Cruz on numerous occasions and had mixed reactions: As a college athlete, I had fond memories of beating their women’s tennis team on their home turf, while as a marathon runner in my mid-20s, I recall getting punched by a random dude (likely on drugs) while I was minding my own business on Pacific Avenue and taking a stroll after a race with my running buddy Autumn.

California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

I’ve come to find that Santa Cruz is indeed a town of dichotomies—and not always positive ones either.

California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

But first, we had to get there.

We left San Francisco around 3pm on a Friday with the intention to arrive in Santa Cruz around dinner time, so we could catch the sunset. Here’s the thing you should know about that drive: If you’re planning to cut down from Ocean Beach and mosey along the iconic Highway 1, you need a good three to four hours to do so, possibly more if you intend to stop for a beer (there are a handful of breweries along the Pacific Coast Highway) or bite to eat (ditto to restaurants). Google Maps will tell you it’s just an hour and a quarter if taking the inland way down I-280 or an hour and 45 minutes should you opt for the scenic route along the coast.

So why the added time? Well, because this, of course:

California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

You’re going to want to stop every 10 feet along the way to snap a picture. Just trust me on this; give yourself plenty of time to take your photos, to pull a 180 in one of the many shoulders or parking lots when you see something in the rearview mirror that strikes your fancy.

California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

Because there is a lot that will.

After a super rainy morning on our food tour in San Francisco, we were blessed with blue skies and a few dramatic, fluffy, white clouds. In other words, it was a photographer’s dream weather. There was no way we’d be making this drive quickly.

California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

During my four years living in the Bay Area, half of those were spent in San Mateo County—which is where we were legally married in 2009 for those of you keeping track at home—and often would drive over the hill to Half Moon Bay for the afternoon simply for the views. There aren’t many things I miss about being a California resident, but that is one of them.

California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

Not being on a tight schedule for a change allowed us to pull over at many places we hadn’t before, like the second of two lighthouses at Pigeon Point that serve as an international hostel, and many we had such as Bunker near Devils Slide and San Gregorio. All of these should most definitely be on your list of stops.

California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

And like I’m going to pass up a chance for a yoga pose on the edge of a cliff. That’s just plain crazy talk.

California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

Toward the end of our drive, we sped up and skipped stopping anywhere beyond Santa Cruz as we were quickly losing light. However, given my past experiences with Santa Cruz, I wasn’t expecting much by way of the perfect golden hour picture I wanted either.

So color me surprised when we pulled into town from the west end—the best end—as opposed to arriving via the inland route and find that our house was right next to a vista like this one:

California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

Natural Bridges State Beach is a beauty, a true Santa Cruz gem, and we were staying mere blocks away from it; in fact, we could feel the chill of the Pacific breeze sneak in through the back door when open. We pulled up to the house, ran in to say a quick hi to SVV’s family, who we hadn’t seen in 18 months, then bolted for the beach as the sun was sinking and promising a good show.

California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

Later in the weekend, we would head down to Lovers Point in Pacific Grove, but this very spot in Santa Cruz ought to have been called as much with all the couples who were making out in the parking lot and on the craggy cliff overhanging the beach. It was … awkward. I didn’t know where to look. But can you blame them, I suppose?

OK, Santa Cruz, I thought, I could have done without the PDAs but I’m impressed with the view, the drive in doesn’t exactly suck and, fine, your beaches are gorgeous. That said, it will take more than that to win me over. What else you got for me?

California Travel: Planning a Road Trip to Santa Cruz

Planning a California vacation? I have plenty of added ideas here:

COMMENTS
  • May 6, 2016
    Kavita

    Oh rainbow – yay!:-) Stunning photographs, Kristin.

    • May 8, 2016

      Thank you, Kavita! We definitely had fun with some photo shoots on this trip =)

  • May 6, 2016

    The size of the US for a Dutchie is mind-boggling. I can’t believe how far places are apart in California alone! The views and your photography is stunning! Who doesn’t love a good cliff and sea view?

    • May 8, 2016

      Oh, I know! Holland is so tiny even in comparison to Tennessee alone. Well, much of Europe for that matter—when I lived in Edinburgh, I remember my friends there saying they would never go home because it’s three whole hours by train! I make that sort of drive every other week or so, and we don’t even have awesome train systems to use at that.

  • May 8, 2016

    I like your articles because it uses a lot of images with good resolution. What camera do you use? thank’s

    • May 8, 2016

      Thank you so much, Youmi! I use a Canon 6D for all my shots: http://amzn.to/1O9mVFg

      Best of all: It has Wi-Fi so I can send shots directly to my phone, a feature I use alllll the time.

  • May 12, 2016

    The scenery is magnificent – it makes me want to get back to California right now and take a road trip! I particularly love the picture of the rainbow 😀

    • May 12, 2016

      Thank you, Chanel! It is indeed a spectacular area of coastline—and completely deserted in parts, which is just baffling.

  • May 13, 2016

    Scenery like that is one of the reasons I also miss living on the West Coast…Chicago has it’s draws, but views like that are not one of them!

  • May 14, 2016

    Family trip is always more memorable comparison to solo trip, These are some memories that memories life time. It is fully enjoyable trip….

  • February 24, 2017

    The rainbow photo is stunning. It looks like you had the best time in California!

  • July 3, 2017

    I live in Sweden and I dream of visiting California during the summer (that might be all year, I’m not sure). There is so much I’d like to see: The architecture, theme parks, LA and much, much more. I’m thinking of renting a car and drive along the coast and see where I land. Great post btw 😉

    • July 6, 2017

      So fun! I hope you get to make that a reality, Emma.

      I’m actually visiting Sweden soon for a project. If you have any posts to Gothenburg (or must-dos), please share them!

Leave a Comment