Ogii's haul of pashminas for her birthday.
The gas station at Blackwell's corner sells fudge; if you buy one pound (which is four squares), you get a half a pound (2 squares) for free. But then you have to eat a lot of fudge over the next few days.
Watching My Cousin Vinny for Ogii's birthday.
A helicopter out spraying the fields.
This guy is too tall for this convertible.
On Saturday we went to the Santa Cruz boardwalk. It was pretty busy.
A passenger train.
A little haunted hause.
It wasn't too scary.
But it was so dark in lots of places that you often had to push around with your hands to figure out where to go.
A tunnel.
Onto some arcade games.
Fishing.
Shooting.
A surfboard bench.
Those are some really tiny chicken tenders.
Ogii refused to go on this ride.
But she did go on this one.
People seemed to have a lot of fun on it.
A slower lift.
Some of the seats had these cavemen.
Us.
They have concerts here.
Lots of people on the beach.
A crazy roller coaster.
A water ride.
Although it didn't look like people got too wet.
Ogii still made me sit in front just in case it was a big splash.
Nice view of this bridge.
And these houses.
A little splash.
We got a little wet but not too bad.
The roller coaster is really old.
Up we go.
Hands up the whole way?
Well, not for Ogii.
See how fast you can throw a baseball.
Ogii was 20mph.
Big windup for me.
I got 41mph, but the guy who had the best of the day was almost double that.
Onto mini golf.
Some holes had a wheel you spun to get different outcomes for the hole.
A blacklight section.
It was neat it was just a few holes rather than the entire course.
The course had a pirate theme; you started out on the ground, went into the blacklight cave, then went up and around on the second floor.
Looking down.
Fun mirrors.
Ogii's teeth are getting longer.
And now she looks like a beaver.
Long legs on this one.
This was kind of like frogger except you only have one button to jump forward; the game goes left and right for you automatically.
Angry birds with physical balls that hit the screen.
Laser tag.
Ogii is 29, I'm 7.
Why is the "J" backwards?
Everyone ready to go.
It was a pretty fun course.
The bases.
Ogii running around.
I got 3675...
... someone else got 4550...
... another guy with 4550...
... and Ogii got 2900. So I got third place and Ogii got fifth place out of thirty one players; pretty good.
This guy hit a jackpot on this Pac-Man game.
There was a volleyball tournament on the beach.
Although there were a few open courts on the end.
Lots of people playing in the water.
Some fishermen on the pier.
Fishing boat is husband day care.
Sea lions.
All sleeping on each other.
Ogii with the seals.
One behind us.
A couple going fishing.
Octopus sculpture.
Fresh taffy.
More sea lions.
A baby.
I didn't think there was any way this one would be able to get onto the pier from the water; it was a few feet above the surface. I thought he'd have to wait for the tide to come in. Ogii thought he could make it, though. And she was right; he dove down, then came flying out of the water and onto the pier.
Interesting trailer in the downtown area.
Good luck to him.
Next stop was Shadowbrook restaurant.
You can either walk down...
... or take the funicular.
Getting on the funicular.
Going down.
Nice stained glass window.
These tables have a gorgeous view.
Plants inside.
I like the little table stuck inside the wall by the stairs.
We sat out here.
Beer flight.
Normally we don't like dark beers, but this Devout Stout was really good.
The main meal.
Dessert.
Truffles to go.
Ogii looking at a little pond while the funicular goes by in the background.
Then we headed out into middle of nowhere to watch the Perseid meteor shower.
Because there are no huge cities nearby we didn't have to go too far to watch it.
On Sunday we went to The Refuge.
They have a bunch of different pools, from freezing cold to burning hot, along with saunas, steam rooms, and lot of chairs by fires to hang out on.
It's very Swedish to jump into the ice-cold pools after sitting in the saunas.
You're also not supposed to talk, although it wasn't too crowded so you could whisper without getting in trouble.
The lodge.
Super comfy huge leather chairs.
Pretty picture.
Carmel valley has some giant mansions up on the hills, although it has to be a long drive up there.
And some really cool houses as well.
Expensive old car and expensive new car on the canyon roads.
Islands? Maybe the little raised areas in the middle of the road? But I didn't see any. Weird sign.