7/3/11

Santa Cruz Roadtrip

Pescadero

We got up early today for a little road trip down to Santa Cruz. After breakfast at the 3-Zero Cafe in Half Moon Bay (where, because I spent too much time consuming the news after Proposition 8 passed, I am always a little bit sad in the back of my mind because I know the vile Yes-on-8 people ate dinner there), we stopped in Pescadero to visit Harley Farms, a goat dairy with some petting opportunities.

IMG_0002

Harley Farms

The gardens are lovely too.

Harley Farms

You can buy cheese, honey, olive oil,

Harley Farms. Goat cheese.

or fresh eggs. Guy bought a dozen. We'll have chickens in the suburbs. Yes, yes, yes. I know people have chickens in the City too, but we do not have room in the current garden.

You can have dinner at Harley Farms. They serve it once a month, it costs $150, and reservations fill up a year in advance. They start taking reservations for 2012 this November. Alternatively, you can rent the dining room for ~$3k. Guy suggested that we do it for our 10th anniversary, since we eloped.

IMG_0027

IMG_0023

Looks like a fun place to dine.

Harley Farms

In Santa Cruz, we visited the Arboretum. The garden has taken some big hits in the current economic climate, as gardens tend to do when things aren't going well.

IMG_0091

If you live in the Bay Area, or if you ever come visit, won't you please make it a point to come here? Buy a plant or two, or put a few dollars in the iron ranger. Public gardens need your support now more than ever.

UCSC Arboretum has one of the largest public collections of Protaceae outside of South Africa and/or Australia. If you grow proteas, leucospermums, leucadendrons, or grevillea in your garden, or if you admire these beautiful, fascinating plants in other gardens, you have UC Santa Cruz to thank for that. They pioneered efforts to bring these plants in to our horticulture. Today, they had healthy 1-g pots of Banksia marginata, B. spinulosa, B. menziesii, B. baxteri, B. baueri, B. attenuata, and B. lemanniana for sale for $10 each!! I know I hardly ever see Banksia for sale anywhere, and I'll bet you don't either. Think about it.

IMG_0079

IMG_0041

IMG_0054

IMG_0048

IMG_0045

IMG_0061

IMG_0064

I couldn't help doing some weeding around this little Mimetes cullatus.

Mimetes cullatus

There were a few Protea blooming today. Come Nov-Mar for the big show.

IMG_0053

We did a quick drive through the UCSC campus. Lots of new construction since I was a student here, oh, back in the 1980s and 1990s...ahem. The campus' beauty and ardent conservation ethic makes any construction here incredibly problematic. Well, I think it all looked good.

This is Parrington House, my freshman dorm at Cowell College back in 1987.

Parrrington House

The Cowell dining hall... oh, the memories!

Cowell College dining hall.

Note: UCSC is made up of several small colleges to give students that small college feeling along with the benefits of a large research university. I was a Cowell student. There were 8 colleges when in my time, and I don't know how many there are now.

UCSC is a great place to walk. You won't find a lovelier redwood forest anywhere south of Humboldt County. Parking is easy on the weekend. Print out a map to bring with you.

One of many bridges on the west part of campus.

IMG_0143

Kresge 327 was one of my favorite classrooms. I had my first quarter of organic chemistry in there, and it changed my life.

Kresge 327. This was one of my favorite classrooms. I had my first quarter of organic chemistry here, and it changed my life.

Porter College...if these walls could talk. Do not climb the totem pole. That will get you expelled.

The Porter College totem pole. Climbing this gets you expelled, or so I was told.. Alas.

The Porter Wave, also called The Flying IUD, like anyone knows what an IUD is anymore.

The Flying IUD #portercollege #UCSantaCruz

As a garden-lover, the Porter koi pond is one of my favorite water features.

The Porter koi pond. This continues to be on of my all-time favorite water feature, fountain things.

We had lunch downtown before heading home.

Santa Cruz

I always loved this theater, but I so rarely had an opportunity to go. I remember I saw the Crow here. That can't be all. Well, I'm glad it's still open.

Lots of street musicians.

IMG_0181

This is the Abbott Family.

Random, everyday sight in downtown Santa Cruz.

There's a cool art gallery next to Caffe Pergolesi now.

I want the center of your heart.

Loved this fountain...



Loved the Millennium Falcon bass guitar...probably wasn't supposed to take a picture of it.

Millennium Falcon bass guitar!!

We bought something here. I'll show it to you later after I hang it up in the garden.

And on that note, I'm going to abruptly stop because this blog post is already on the long side...

9 comments:

Christopher C. NC said...

Buskers look to be a new national phenomena. There certainly weren't many street performers when I was growing up.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing what sounds to have been a wonderful day. Duartes in Pescadero is a favorite of ours. Our son-in-law works just up the road, in Loma Mar, at Redwood Glen Camp.

As for UC Santa Cruz, I have stayed here twice with students who were working on a video project. It is indeed a lovely campus but every time I went somewhere, I felt like I was climbing uphill, coming and going. 8-)

My trips to Santa Cruz must take in the Boardwalk and pier to really count. We always stay at the Sea and Sand.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing what sounds to have been a wonderful day. Duartes in Pescadero is a favorite of ours. Our son-in-law works just up the road, in Loma Mar, at Redwood Glen Camp.

As for UC Santa Cruz, I have stayed here twice with students who were working on a video project. It is indeed a lovely campus but every time I went somewhere, I felt like I was climbing uphill, coming and going. 8-)

My trips to Santa Cruz must take in the Boardwalk and pier to really count. We always stay at the Sea and Sand.

danger garden said...

Thank you for the UCSC Arboretum/Protaceae tip...now on my must see someday list!

Single Gal said...

Thanks for the info about the arboretium, it's embarrassing to say, but I had no idea about this one, and I'm a California native.

Also, I like the fountain. I have seen a sink used as a fountain, but not a telephone booth.

Derek said...

Thanks for those photos! Really brought me back. I'm a slug, too (Porter, '95).

Anonymous said...

I liked your day trip post and pics very much! SC is my home town. I want to check out those plants at UCSC soon. Thanks for the tip. Also...we took our girl to Safari West last week for her 6th b-day. I learned about this place from your blog (last year?). We had a great overnight trip there. It's such a cool place. The kid did not want to leave ("WHY only one night??")
-kelly

martha said...

Loved seeing your pics of UCSC! I lived in Parrington House too, as a freshman (considerably before you were there!). Many happy memories of cooking vegetarian delights in the kitchen there, of the WALTZES we used to have when the other colleges had rock dances (not sure if that was still true by 1987), of staying up all night talking to upperclassmen about Herodotus and other classical themes, and of planting a garden behind the dorm, mostly gorgeous sweetpeas as I recall.

Thanks for the plug about the garden and arboretum. Wonderful, inspiring places well worth a visit!

Martha

Serialplantfetishist said...

Enjoyed coming along on your road trip. I just went to Santa Cruz this past week and was blown away by the Mimetes cullatus. Strange and wonderful for sure. The blue grass music was fun too.

I hated proposition 8, and all the more because my own niece was so proud to have worked to pass it. She got married herself a summer ago and, for what its worth, I could not bring myself to attend. Hard to celebrate her happiness when she is so happy to piss all over that of so many others.