Our Vacation

During August the children and I had a wonderful eight-day vacation in Santa Cruz, mainly, with a few days spent in Monterey and the San Francisco Bay Area. Our main reason for going was to visit with relatives, some of whom we hadn't seen in over 3 +1/2 years.

My mom, who lives in Texas, was staying in Santa Cruz for the summer in my brother's RV. He's staying in the mountains on his land near Boulder Creek... where we had a wonderful family picnic the first Sunday we were there.

On Monday and Tuesday we went to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. This was my kids' first experience at an amusement park and they were both thrilled beyond measure. Aaron was especially brave, riding some of the newer, more daring rides. Cimmie and I could only watch and wonder at his audacity. There was no way we'd consent to doing some of the scary things he did that day... talking about rides that spin people around, turn them upside down, and generally scare them half to death.

All of us rode the Giant Dipper roller coaster three times. The Dipper has been there since the 1920's and I've been on it many times through the years since my own childhood.

After Santa Cruz we drove north to San Francisco and visited with my 30-year-old son, Joshua. He lives near the Haight and took us to lunch at a restaurant there on Haight Street. They served a mountain of great food for a reasonable price... then we walked up and down the street visiting. Cimmie and I checked out the clothing stores for the latest trends. We plan to do some sewing this year using some of the ideas we saw there.

Next we went to visit my father across the bay in Hayward. The next day we drove up the coast highway through Mendocino and other seaside villages... on our way home. It was a wonderful vacation and we can hardly wait for the next one!
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