6-19-2014 Monterey Bay and Friends in Santa Cruz

A few winters ago, when we were staying in New Orleans, we met a wonderful couple (Josh and Laura Pinney) who had just started full-timing in an RV.  They stayed next to us at the French Quarter RV Park, and they also had an old bus conversion, two cute children, a cat, and a dog, and we hit it off.  Cara kept in touch with Laura and realized it actually would work for us to meet them on our way north from L.A. to Portland.  Hooray!  We got to the area early, so we were able to walk around briefly in Monterey, CA before a nice visit with them in Santa Cruz.

Although Monterey Bay is pretty, we weren't too impressed with the Old Fisherman's Wharf.

Old Fisherman's Wharf seems like just another tourist trap, although we did find it funny that outside every restaurant
was somebody giving out free samples of their clam chowder.  You could have a whole meal just walking up one side
and down the other, sampling all the chowders.

We liked this old sailboat, the Irving Johnson.

What a lovely place to take a break!

Walking around further in Monterey, we found the "First Brick House".

Lovely gardens by the First Brick House

A cute little shopping area just up the riverwalk from Old Fisherman's Wharf

In Santa Cruz we had a quick happy hour drink at Cafe El Palomar before meeting our friends.  We had a nice view of a
very busy beach scene.  Inside the fenced off area to the right is the outdoor music area of the Crow's Nest Restaurant.
That's where we met Josh and Laura, and their kids Aiden and Satya, while we listened to their friend's band. The kids
were just as cute as when we last saw them, and we're kicking ourselves for not having taken any pictures.