Seacliff (4)

We managed to score a visit with Annie, our Alto friend, while simultaneously launching our winter trip. That’s a nice win there! (winky face) We had planned to connect with her the previous weekend, but weather got in our way. The storm that was forecast did not turn out to be as severe as predicted, but it did close down the campground we were going to stay in. We just stayed home, but we kind of needed to anyway. There was laundry to take care of and holiday joy to manage, so it was probably a good idea.

I was shocked we were able to regroup and score a site at Seacliff for the next weekend. I guess this one had gotten closed for a day or two as well, and Annie said she saw that the surf had come up about half way into the sites. Many people must have bailed, leaving sites to be scored. But this allowed us to see our friend and get a few miles started for our southward trajectory. For the record, launching from Seacliff is preferable to San Luis Reservoir. Chilling to the sound of the rolling waves and then hopping up to get ice cream at Marianne’s is hard to top.

Richard headed out to do a long loop while Annie showed me around downtown Aptos. We got to chat and shop for socks until Richard texted me he’d run into a road closure on Highland Way. He was pretty much stuck, so I drove out and rescued him. I therefore got to see a nice stretch of Soquel San Jose Road, which is pretty and fern covered, as it climbs up for some great views of Monterey Bay. The cargo was retrieved at the top, thankful he’d taken his jacket. The bicycle was thrown in the back of the car for the wet and windy descent.

We had a surprise Alto sighting back at Seacliff! We’d almost met Jennifer and Kim once before when we saw their Alto, but not them, parked at the visitor center at New Brighton. As I drove back into the campground, I spotted their R series Alto and blue tow vehicle and got momentarily confused. I knew that couldn’t be me, because I was me, and in my blue tow vehicle, so I rolled down my window and shouted, “Who are you??” They recognized us right away and said we’d given them Koozies. That’s a fun coincidence!

For dinner, we picked up a take out order from Aptos St. BBQ and got to watch the sun set over the waves in front of us. That was followed by another ice cream run (it’s ok because you have to climb stairs to get there, so you’ve pretty much earned the calories).

Great two night stay before heading to the southern deserts. Happy holiday cheer can commence!

Total miles: 88.9, 18.6 mpg, 2 hours 34 min. Site B7 no hookups. Dumped at New Brighton, as per usual.