distance = 90.9
by Karen
Up and at 'em, we ate our granola packed up and moved on. Our guidebook
suggested a stop at Ano Nuevo park and we obliged. The park ranger
informed us there was a guy a day ahead of us making his way to
Patagonia. Hmmmm. Up until now we hadn't met any other cyclists going
south of the border. After lunch in some scorching hot sun and
listening to the elephant seals barking in the distance we pressed on.
Dreaming of ice cream we happened upon an organic farm that enticed us
with their "10% cyclist discount" sign. And we were glad they did.
Swanton farm is the oldest organically certified strawberry farm in
California. They had a whole farm store/ lounge area replete with
couches (oh, to sit on a couch!) full of interesting reading material
and all on the honour system. We tallied up our purchases: broccoli for
dinner, strawberries for dessert and ollalieberry shortcake for now!
Articles on the wall talked about the history of the farm and the
unionized farm workers. Their slogan: "si se puede".
We ended the day with a ride along West and then East Cliff road through
Santa Cruz. They have a stunning waterfront with gorgeous houses,
interrupted by "the boardwalk", an amusement park that had shut down for
the season. All along the coast people were out walking, running,
cycling, surfing or watching the surfers. Some surfers rode their bikes
one-handed with their surf board tucked under their other arm. Later we
learned Santa Cruz had seen a big swell this week so surfers were out in
droves.
New Brighton Beach had a nice biker site where Rob cooked up quinoa,
farm fresh broccoli and cashews for dinner. Fresh in-season
strawberries for dessert, delicious!
Wonderful!
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