"So where are we going to sleep tonight?"--Justin

Day five: June 30, 2013

We started today will a car ride.  A very, very, long car ride.  Our plan was to leave at 8:00.  We ended up leaving around 8:45.  Which, considering our late nights, was really not all that late.  The first stop was at Starbucks.  The problem with driving before coffee to get coffee is that you haven't yet had coffee.  So after missing my freeway exit, picking up a tenth member (my cousin, Jenny) for our group, we circled back to pick up the necessary wakey-wakey-drink.

 

Santa Cruz, our destination for the day, is about 200 miles away.  On a good day it takes less than three hours.  Today... was not one of those days.  So much traffic.  And once we finally arrived the parking lot was full so we had to circle back a little over a mile.  It was about 2:30 when we parked so we started with a little parking lot picnic of fried rice and chips.

After lunch we boarded a shuttle and trucked off to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

Or more specifically, the Pacific Ocean which is next to the Boardwalk.  The weather was pretty warm for Santa Cruz.  But with everyone still touchy with the sunburn there were only a few of us willing to take a plunge.

Henry and I walked out pretty quickly and got behind the break.  Unfortunately Justin was a bit more hesitant.  And then made the rookie mistake of turning his body to the shore, and not the waves.  The power of the waves crashing knocked him under and he was done with the whole saltwater-wave-jumping experience. 

So then there were two of us.  Henry and I jumped above and swam on top of the incoming waves before convincing Marilyn to join us.  (unfortunately I don't have pictures of that). 

It wasn't too long before we left the beach though.  There were, after all, roller coasters to ride.  We snapped this one just before boarding the Giant Dipper.

The Giant Dipper is the fifth oldest roller coaster in America.  It's a good balance of intense turns and drops all the while not being too strenuous with upside-down loops or funky seating positions.  It's just a basic roller coaster.

There were mixed reactions.  From Alaina, who immediately got back in line to go again to Yago, who somehow ended up with a bruise from the ride and thus decided to slow things down a bit.  Having said that, this next picture was shot getting off the ride.  As you can see, no one flat out hated it.

Alaina's second time riding the Giant Dipper she was less thrilled with the ride and more excited about seeing her picture.  She said the second time it was no big deal. 

Santa Cruz has much more to offer than just the Big Dipper.  Marilyn, Henrietta, and Yago's next ride was the Haunted Castle.  The ride is pretty calm and they left the ride feeling pretty okay with everything.

Our plan was to go find Justin and Henry who disappeared after the Big Dipper and only reappeared to get money for cotton candy.  On our way to finding them though, we stopped for the carousel.  All three of us came pretty close to getting the ring in the clowns mouth, but no one hit it on solid.  It was tempting to ride it again but we were on a mission.

The next ride over is the bumper cars, where we quickly spotted them going on their third straight ride of these cars.  Yago was interested but Justin was done with them.  Just as we began to walk away from the bumper cars we ran into Henrietta and Alaina (who had ridden the Haunted Castle again).

All together once again, we went to the Pirate Ship.

and then the sky glider...

And the Tsunami...

And well... about another dozen rides each.  It was a long day at the park but a good one all the same.  Justin asked the title of today's blog a couple of times.  It was hard to imagine after all of the action we had that day that we could actually end up driving all the way back.  But we did.  We ended up not getting back to the house until 3:00 AM.  Again, the only people awake were the drivers.  And perhaps "awake" is too strong a term for how we were feeling.

Day six:  July 1, 2013

Today started later than we expected.  Now, I know I say this everyday but today in particular we had a late start.  I woke around noon.  And I was still one of the first ones up.  Lazily, I checked email and texted with a few different people.  We talked about getting some food.  A Vietnamese buffet for example.  But by the time we were all showered and dressed for the day it was 2:00 and we had to get to our first scheduled destination for the day. 

It was an hour drive to the Jelly Belly factory and as you can see in the picture people SOME of us are getting pretty comfortable will all the time we spend in the car. 

The Jelly Belly Factory does tours of their shop from 10-4pm but the line to get in on a tour can take up to an hour.  It was busy, as always, there so I immediately got in line while everyone else looked around the gift shop.  Jelly Belly jellybeans are not like other jellybeans.  They are the one with the fancy flavors like kiwi, Dr. Pepper, and popcorn.  They also make gummy animals (rats and snakes and stuff) and the Bernie Bots every flavored beans that they talk about in Harry Potter.  Those flavors include: toothpaste, vomit, ear wax, dog food, grass and many other disgusting flavors.

After Jelly Belly we decided to get our first meal of the day.  It was nearly 5:00PM and just about time I figure.  We had decided earlier in the day to skip mini-golf (because some did it the day before at Santa Cruz) and go to Sun Splash (a water park with slides and such).  Sun Splash has a special Night Slide deal for $20 a person that allows unlimited rides from 5-10:30PM.  In order to make the most of our time we decided to go to Fresh Choice (a buffet chain with salads and more healthy food).  Unfortunately we were to two different ones and they were both closed.  Then we learned online that all Fresh Choices closed in December of 2012.  Whoops!

So we decided instead to dine at Chevy's.  We were hungry.  And thirsty.  And by the time the food came we has already consumed so much pop and chips with salsa that it all was just way too much food.  Our "doggy bags" were probably twice the amount of food we actually ate in that sitting. 

Looking at the time it was clear that our plans for Sun Splash would have to be put on hold.  As it was we couldn't have made it there before 8:30PM.  And by then the sun would be setting and our plan of cooling off in the water would be pretty much wasted. 

So instead we decided to fill the small pool we had in the backyard with enough water to just splash around in the dark with. 

For most of my childhood I begged my parents to install a pool in our backyard.  But year after year they declined and I found myself spending summer days and weekends at friends' homes.  Shout out to the parents of Patricia, Heather (and Debbie and Michelle), and Nicole for providing pool time for this child's fish-out-of-water needs. 

Those plastic blow up pools have improved some since I was a kid, I must admit.  And the current pool we have in the backyard proved to be plenty fun for our Akiuk guests. 

They even asked for some sparkling apple cider to toast to their fun.  When I told Henry to get it himself, he answered, "but I'd catch a grenade for you.  Put my hand on a blade for you."  And with that, I delivered.  I'm a sucker for wit.  

Speaking of being a sucker.  This was also the evening when Henrietta asked to use my phone and then I saw I had some 14 notifications on Facebook.  It seems my phone was passed around and there was some major (some even called it "epic") hacking.  "My" proclaiming to love everything from pooping to Austin Mahone.  Alaina, I deduced, was the leader of this rebellion so I promised her paybacks the following day.  Those paybacks started at 6:30AM when everyone had to wake up.