Not Quite Italy

I've been meaning to write about this far a few weeks now. I was waiting to get some pictures off of my phone to post along with the blog, but I am thinking that may never actually happen...so here we are without the visuals.

On a Saturday two weeks ago I took Lizzie (my little sister by 14 years) out for the day. When I picked her up I figured we would just run some errands and end up at the beach. But as it turned out our day took on a life of it's own.

We did run an errand, but then because it wasn't quite warm yet we decided to go downtown. When we got there the streets had been transformed into a rainbow of tents. Surrounded by balloons and filled with people. It was Children's Day in Santa Cruz. So we wandered through the various canopy's and in and out of stores truly enjoying Santa Cruz. As we were strolling along we were instructed to clear the street, because the parade was coming. I love a parade, even the lamest parades offer ample opportunity to people watch with out being rude. And this parade did not disappoint in that regard. This was a bike parade to celebrate the end of Bike to Work Week. At first it was just a bunch of kids with steamers on their bikes, but soon came some of Santa Cruz's best. Bikes fully decked out in propaganda, people dressed to match their bikes. There were those with huge butterfly wings, a guy who had transformed himself and his bike into a giant bug. There was a whole squad of unicycle riders of all ages and heights. A guy on stilts who missed the memo about the bikes. Someone who had deconstructed their bike so that there was nothing connecting the front to the back allowing for some interesting stunts. Others had also altered bikes to hold up to 6 people on two levels, I am not sure why those on top had pedals but they were doing their best to be a part of the team. It was a truly Santa Cruz parade.

When it was over and we were allowed to cross the street, we wandered into Urban outfitters and each picked out 7 outfits for the other to try on. Creating a mini fashion show if you will. To both of our surprise everything fit and we did not buy anything.

Then we made our way back to the car but stopped along the way to make a chalk drawing together. Then covered in chalk we washed off in a near by water fountain, and proceeded to the car. But on the way a sign caught my eye advertising a Saturday Market in the park. So instead of turning left we continued on and crossed the bridge to the park. The Saturday market left much to be desired, but we stumbled upon a Broadway review that was just about to take place on the Duck Pond Stage. So we plunked down on the grassy hill to watch the show. It was by this time sunny and getting quite warm. We sat there together soaking it all in.

We left a bit early, to get back to the car in time, jumped in and headed to lunch. We ended up deciding to eat at the Crows Nest overlooking the beach, harbor, light house and Ocean. We sat outside upstairs to take full advantage of the beauty. By the time lunch was over we decided that it would be okay to save the beach for another day. Ran another errand and headed home. We finished off our day with the rest of the family enjoying BBQ Hamburgers on the patio.

It wasn't quite Italy, but it was a beautiful day filled with vacation like moments. And plenty of memories.