The Great Allen Family Road Trip: Day 1

This past week was Matt's spring break so we made big plans. We did a trip down the California Coast and had such a wonderful week! So, brace yourself for a lot of pictures and warning, I may say the words "beautiful" and "amazing" a dozen times, but this really was a memorable trip. That being said, let the travel log begin!

Monday morning we were up and on the road by 6:20 am. Our Camry was jam packed and our boys were teetering in and out of consciousness as we drove up the 5 North then headed west to our first stop: Santa Cruz. (Let me first say we timed this trip perfectly. California has been saturated with rain the past few weeks so everywhere we went the trees and fields were bright green and wild flowers were all over. Even the boring Interstate 5 was beautiful all the way up.) Our first destination in Santa Cruz was a place called the Mystery Spot.

The Mystery Spot is just inland a few miles tucked into the redwoods. It is called the Mystery Spot because there is a "spot" of ground 150 ft in diameter that has some very mysterious effects. Seriously, this place was so much fun. A house was built above the spot but slide down the hill and is stopped in the center of the mystery spot. Inside the house you feel the strongest effects. There is some strange gravitational pull or something but you seriously have to lean against it's forces. It is so strong inside the house that it made me dizzy and really light-headed. I could barely walk through the little two room cabin. Matt, on the other hand, was doing tricks. Look at where his feet are in relation to the rest of his body as he stands on the edge of this table.

We're leaning

This was a great first stop and it was so beautiful around here. I have never really been in Redwoods but they are spectacular! My boys liked it too.We hiked around a little and stretched out our cramped legs as we took in all the sights and smells of the Mystery Spot. From there we drove over to the coast and hit up the Santa Cruz boardwalk and pier. Argh Matey!

It was fun to see but quite honestly past its prime. A little trashy around the boardwalk area but I'm sure it was the happenin' spot in its heyday.

Just North of the pier was "Steamer Lane," a famous surf spot so we had to take a peek as well as see the Santa Cruz surf museum for Matt.

This area was actually much nicer and it was a beautiful day to watch surfing

From there we drove about a half hour south to Monterey. Crew needed some seriously energy releasing so we went straight to the Dennis the Menace Park. It was totally awesome!

The park was full of fun things to explore and play on. Crew was in heaven.

After the park we went and checked into our little Bed and Breakfast hotel. If you ask Crew what his favorite part of our trip was he will tell you "the hotels." Crew loves hotels, seriously, loves hotels. He can't wait to get there and talks nonstop for at least 30 minutes after we get to our room telling us all about what things are, why things are where, what he likes and whatever else he can think to tell us about the hotel. It is really quite funny. This little inn was really fun because each room was a separate little house which was a big hit with Crew.

Graham also enjoyed the hotel and the chance to finally really stretch out and relax. My smiley, chunky cheeked boy!
It was a great first day - minus a blow out by Graham and Crew not going to sleep until almost 10 since he was so excited about the hotel!