california: santa cruz
Things are going well in the lab (I'm still short HF, but only by less than a litre), so a bit more about Santa Cruz!
I poked around downtown on Monday, after housemate Heather showed me where her preferred grocery store was. It seemed really happening, there is music on the streets, and lots of hip looking restaurants on the main drag. One of them I really want to eat at before I leave, its a jazz cafe with a live combo! Then off to the grocery store. They are pretty different than in Canada, absolutely EVERYTHING is labeled organic, and most of it is local! A few people in the lab go as far as getting a veggie box and a meat box directly from farms in the area once a week. Pretty cool. My only beef: I bought vegan muffins by accident, and they were kinda gross.
Thursday we went to a "dude bar" and had a local brew. It was tasty, and the people were of the "dude" variety rather than being hipsters (I have no idea what that means) . Then I made some excuses about having to go at around 11:30 since Heather got asked to hang out by a guy she just started seeing, and she didn't want to tell the third person there for complicated reasons. I took the bus home with a bunch of drunk freshman celebrating the end of exams. Ahh Americans, so out of control, hehe. I'm used to the short stumble home, it has been a while since I've done the public transit return trip!
Saturday: beach day! Hit the boardwalk, beach, natural history museum, beach, bookstore and then another week's worth of groceries. It is soooo hot, and the sun was brutal! I had no sunscreen so I had to call it early or be burnt to a crisp. I posted a photo or two on facebook and will definitely be going back. The sand is hot, and it is crowded, but the smell of salt in the air and mixing a carnival with the waves is a cool idea! It is a bit like the Ex on the ocean. It seemed like the entire population of Santa Cruz was there, and I have to admit, if I lived here I'd be there every weekend too. No surfers though, they go to a different beach with better waves.
Sunday: I explored the intertidal with Heather and helped her harvest mussels for an isotopic study. Lots of cool critters: a sea lion, some dolphins and pelicans as well as sea urchins, starfish, mussels by the thousands and all kinds of other things! I could have stayed there all day. Sea life is amazing. But we couldn't, the tide does rise, and we had breakfast and then headed off for a bbq and college baseball in the Santa Cruz mountains. One of Heather's labmates has a brother playing for UC Irvine, so we all watched them win. Mmmmm baseball. Very cool. Then back to work!
Tomorrow it looks like a half day, and Mike arrives! I think we might go see some giant redwoods, or hit the beach again. Woohoo!
I poked around downtown on Monday, after housemate Heather showed me where her preferred grocery store was. It seemed really happening, there is music on the streets, and lots of hip looking restaurants on the main drag. One of them I really want to eat at before I leave, its a jazz cafe with a live combo! Then off to the grocery store. They are pretty different than in Canada, absolutely EVERYTHING is labeled organic, and most of it is local! A few people in the lab go as far as getting a veggie box and a meat box directly from farms in the area once a week. Pretty cool. My only beef: I bought vegan muffins by accident, and they were kinda gross.
Thursday we went to a "dude bar" and had a local brew. It was tasty, and the people were of the "dude" variety rather than being hipsters (I have no idea what that means) . Then I made some excuses about having to go at around 11:30 since Heather got asked to hang out by a guy she just started seeing, and she didn't want to tell the third person there for complicated reasons. I took the bus home with a bunch of drunk freshman celebrating the end of exams. Ahh Americans, so out of control, hehe. I'm used to the short stumble home, it has been a while since I've done the public transit return trip!
Saturday: beach day! Hit the boardwalk, beach, natural history museum, beach, bookstore and then another week's worth of groceries. It is soooo hot, and the sun was brutal! I had no sunscreen so I had to call it early or be burnt to a crisp. I posted a photo or two on facebook and will definitely be going back. The sand is hot, and it is crowded, but the smell of salt in the air and mixing a carnival with the waves is a cool idea! It is a bit like the Ex on the ocean. It seemed like the entire population of Santa Cruz was there, and I have to admit, if I lived here I'd be there every weekend too. No surfers though, they go to a different beach with better waves.
Sunday: I explored the intertidal with Heather and helped her harvest mussels for an isotopic study. Lots of cool critters: a sea lion, some dolphins and pelicans as well as sea urchins, starfish, mussels by the thousands and all kinds of other things! I could have stayed there all day. Sea life is amazing. But we couldn't, the tide does rise, and we had breakfast and then headed off for a bbq and college baseball in the Santa Cruz mountains. One of Heather's labmates has a brother playing for UC Irvine, so we all watched them win. Mmmmm baseball. Very cool. Then back to work!
Tomorrow it looks like a half day, and Mike arrives! I think we might go see some giant redwoods, or hit the beach again. Woohoo!