Itinerary for the day is as follows:
-Leave @ 11:00 am ( drive is only 1.45 hours away)
-Drive for 45 min & hit stand still traffic.
-move at a gradual 0-5mph for the next 3.5 hours
-(150 degrees + no air conditioning+4 tired hot sweaty people= the longest drive ever.)
-After spending 2 hours in the car we seriously debated on turning around and just going home.
-Finally reached Santa Cruz around 3 and stopped @ Subway while the rest of the team headed to the beach
-Somehow we got lost, didn't have a working cell phone and couldn't find the team for another 2 hours while we wondered around the busy overcrowded beaches. (in this time we sat on the beach for 15 min, which was super nice, I waited in the bathroom line for 35, and we witnessed a beach front wedding in the middle of thousands of beach goers.) It was interesting to say the least.
-We finally met up the group for dinner out on the wharf we got some really good hamburgers & took some fun pictures!
-We talked to a local just as we were leaving who informed us that we were on the worst beach there, and there were plenty of private beaches just about 5 min the other direction :)
haha as you can see it was quite the day. Pretty amusing. Fun but not relaxing. But our 15 min on the beach were quite enjoyed & I guess we will just have to go back again.
here are some pictures we managed to snap of the day....
Lessons learned:
-Never ever ever travel on the fourth of July.
-Talk to the Locals as soon as you arrive.
-Always have a cell phone on you
-Leave early
-Leave early
-Enjoy the journey :)