East Cliff Sunsets

So just a few minutes walk from my house is East Cliff, a street that winds along the coast in Santa Cruz.  In one popular section, there is an esplanade walkway overlooking some of the best surf in the town.  At most times this winter, I've seen 30-100 surfers out and about in the water.  Today, with the winter temperatures pushing 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and it being a Saturday, the waters were full of surfers out riding the waves and people relaxing on the beaches below.  This is a picture of the sunset, with the typical California palm trees aligned with the ocean and an orange going on red sky lit up.  Truly a blessed view, something which I try to see as often as possible.

Starting the day right

Another brilliant sunrise starting off the day in Santa Cruz.  7am the sun popped over the mountains, with surfers paddling out to join the twenty already in the water.  Pretty sweet waves and an epic view as always in the Monterey Bay.  I try to see the sun rise and sun set a few times a week whenever possible.  One of the best things about living in California is that the colors, matched with the ocean combine to bring all sorts of people together to enjoy nature.  Nothing finer than taking a break from the busy life to watch the sun and meet some new people.  Here's some more pictures:

Sun lighting up East Cliff

Basketball in Santa Cruz

Being a huge basketball fanatic, it was sweet to see that the NBA's Development League was having it's showcase in Santa Cruz.  A four day tournament with an all day ticket costing just $20.  What a deal, with four games each day, allowing for tons of basketball options with the up and comers for the NBA, players who were big in college, coming from overseas and just balling out. 

An all day pass gets you any seat in the building.  Any seat.  So I naturally went and sat courtside:

Pretty sweet getting so close to the action, with the ref standing just a couple feet away and me having to move my knees when a player would inbound the ball from the sideline.  Like the NBA All-Star game, there wasn't the best defense, so there were plenty of dunks going around and players trying to show each other up.  You do good, you could go to the NBA.  One player was called up to Sacramento the day after I saw him play, getting his dream to play in the pros.

Some of the highlights were seeing former NCAA tournament standouts such as Arizona's Nick Johnson and Louisville's Peyton Siva.  Also present was Steph Curry's brother (the player on the team in white in the above photo) and Thanasis Anteokounmpo, brother of Giannis who is rocking the Milwaukee Buckes right now.  Then there were the other players who had great games on the day I was there.  Pretty damn sweet to be so close to the action and talk with some NBA guys about the league and the players.  Here's a video and a couple more photos from the day:

 

Biking around town

Soaking up the beach vibes on a Monday morning bike ride.  Always a good view nearby the beach!

2014 Recap

Watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean was the perfect end to 2014, a year full of adventures, travels, fun in the sun and good times spent with family and friends.  The year went by pretty damn quick, even with having two summers and keeping the days as bright and long as possible.  I crossed the equator twice to maximize the warmth of summer, going from Europe down to Australia for 6 months and then back up to the US for baseball games, Mexican food and frisbee in the summertime.

I started 2014 in Portugal with my family who had flown over for Christmas.  I'd been living in Istanbul and with the family in Boston, Portugal seemed a perfect place to meet up, celebrate and explore a new country all together.  From there, it was down through Sevilla into Morocco, a country full of amazing food and wonderful people.  I explored the Sahara by camel for 3 days, visited the mountain villages in the north and wandered around the mazes of the Medinas in Fes and Marrakesh.  Feasting up tangerines for $.25/kilogram, couchsurfing, hiking, eating and taking local transport made for an epic visit over 3.5 weeks in the country.

Using frequent flier miles (stock up people!  It's free travel!), I flew through 3 countries all the way down to Australia.  Carrying two Moroccan rugs.  That's right, my career as an international rug dealer had begun.  Landing in Melbourne, I was reunited with friends from Wellington, New Zealand and settled in to a very fun, laid back city, that always has something going on.  Melbourne is one of the best cities to live in, and if you don't believe me, read any top 10 list and it will be there.  Spending a summer there is amazing, from time at the beach, to exploring the town and enjoying all that is on offer.  I worked as a tour guide, was the night auditor of a hostel and cooked part time.  Quite a variety of work and fun down under. Riding a single speed bike around the flat town was a breeze, and staying caffeinated was both a pleasure and a statement of fact in the coffee loving city.

Once autumn starting turning to winter, I flew back across the equator to the US for 3 months of travels, bouncing around the country, visiting friends and family.  Quite fun to see loads of people again, attend baseball games at 4 stadiums, swim in 3 of the Great Lakes and laugh it up with good people in my home country.  From the West Coast, to the Midwest, to the Northeast, down to the South, American hospitality was on full display and I loved it.  Great times and then back to California to start a new chapter of the life.  I'm living in Santa Cruz, just a few minutes walk from the beach and working at an organic community market and having fun.  Great vibes in this here town, where the redwood trees meet the palm trees.  The life is good and 2015 is going to rock!

Happy Holidays!

Wishing everyone a happy holiday season and another amazing year coming up!  Stay safe, stay amazing!

Exploring the university

Santa Cruz is definitely known for being a funky beach town with laidback vibes, but there is a huge part of the city that is also pretty famous.  UCSC is up in the hills overlooking the city and is going on 50 years of being a cutting edge, liberal college.  After a month of living in Santa Cruz, it was time to go up and explore the campus and see what it was all about.

Taking the bus up there, more and more 20 year olds boarded.  It was packed.  Normal city buses at 9:30 am are fairly empty, and yet this one was packed full of students drinking out of mason jars, wearing plaid, talking about professors and sporting fancy new piercings.  The bus left down and headed up the hill, entering what seemed to be a forest with a few buildings.  The campus is scattered around the hill, sometimes offering great ocean views, but normally surrounded by tall redwoods and ravines.  Bridges, side paths and nature all around.

With the famous mascot being the banana slug, I kept an eye out and was lucky enough to spot two students taking a picture of the ground.  Which meant a banana slug.  Here's my picture of the slug in all its glory:

I had a coffee and a tour from a friend who is an oceanographer researcher and then explored a bit on my own, randomly running into another person I knew.  Santa Cruz has small town feel and this definitely showed up on campus.  Good vibes all over the place in this city!

After playing 3 out of 4 days, the arms are sore, but it has been amazing to be playing beach volleyball all the time in mid November.

Ah man, the life is golden!  It's been an epic weekend here in Santa Cruz, just living it up.  This city has so much going on all the time, and with the summer tourists gone, it's pretty darn nice to get around town and meet the locals.

It all started with First Friday in downtown Santa Cruz.  It seemed like it would be an art walk around town, and yet I saw more live music than art.  So many places had bands going, that it felt more like a festival, with people smiling, dancing and laughing all over the place.  Like a true Santa Cruz event, the down to earth shops and people can turn it up a notch and whoop it up like none other.

At the Bookshop, a bluegrass band was jamming out amongst the books, cracking jokes and using a washboard to get that special percussion sound.  Across the way at the Sockshop, a funk band was ripping it up, the store was packed, and there was beer flowing, prosciutto and cheese to be had, and lots of dancing bodies.  Not to be outdone, Jamba Juice had a disco DJ outside spinning some old classics to get the people moving around to. 

The internet company, Cruzio, celebrating a big anniversary as well, had a rocking folk band covering a variety of songs and collecting a huge crowd on the street corner.  Next to them were a couple food trucks and inside, a bar and snacks, with people lounging around the board room like it was their living room, and the place was filled throughout.  This and the Sockshop were the two that seemed to buzzing with people and great music that stood out above the rest.  Walking down to meet friends at the end, this jam band was whooping up the entrance to the light shop.  Quite the night!

The past days have been filled with beach volleyball, sunsets, pool, barbeques, meeting people and riding my new bike around town.  It's be amazing and I'm loving this city.  With weather hitting 70 each weekend day, it was perfect to be diving after volleyballs in the sand for hours.  Great crew of people and it's going to be a regular thing, with the requisite post game swim in there.  At least 5 seals were out in the water splashing around today.  Tis a thing of beauty.

But for you people in colder climates, never fear, it does get colder in the nights.  Not all sun and fun (that's just the daytime).  People talk up how year-round, you can get by with just a hoodie and some jeans.  Tonight was more of a fog-set, where the sun got swallowed up by some early evening fog.  Last night was this awesome sunset:

The life is good.  Hope you all are golden!

Santa Cruz

So I'm settling into the amazing beach town of Santa Cruz.  This place has blown me away with friendliness, sunshine, good vibes and some amazing food so far.  After just a few days here, I knew this would be a good spot to get back to my California roots and live in the US again.  It's situated on the north end of the Monterey Bay, which cuts down on the amount of wind that a lot of this coast gets, and also seems to have more sunshine.  Either way, I'm seeing lots of blue skies and having some warm days, while the East Coast has already had snow, so I am plain old loving it!

I've got a room for the month of November covered and am currently looking for a job.  Just bought the bike today, so I've got wheels, and have spent a lot of time walking and exploring all over, so I've definitely got a good feel for the city and where things are at.  Already had two job interviews and been chatting up lots of people, digging for that perfect job.  It's out there!

Here are a few pictures from the life in Santa Cruz so far:

Sunset at Twin Lakes Beach

The infamous Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Quiet beach life

Righteous people in these parts

Surfers out at Pleasure Point

NorCal Fun Continues

More good vibes around the Bay Area.  Been exploring north and south of the city, seeing some amazing small beach towns, epic views, and getting to know what's going on in NorCal.  Of course, the main attraction is seen above, the Golden Gate.  Driving through it for the first time in 15+ years was awesome and I treated it as a visitor should, with lots of pictures.  It's the way to get to Marin County in the north, full of relaxing vibes, small towns and windy roads.  Different than the big city life, and still close in to all the action, it is an amazing contrast and the perfect spot to get away and just enjoy life.  Here are a few pictures from the time up north:

Shannon and I at Point Reyes (windiest spot in the west coast)

Elephant seals whooping it up and soaking up some sun

Probably what the SF Bay looked like back in the day

You can't be right next to the big city without exploring it a bit too.  Spent another day out and about, capturing the Golden Gate from Lands End Park, enjoying the sights along Haight and taking in the view from Twin Peaks.  Always something going on all over the place, and with blue skies and sunshine, people have been out and about loving life.  Only way to do it.

Golden Gate popping through!

Up on top of Twin Peaks

Ayrika and I on Twin Peaks

Amoeba Records, chock full of music and amazinness!

A day in the Mission

I spent yesterday exploring the Mission District in San Francisco, quite the hopping place, diverse, eclectic and entertaining.  People all over, sitting at the cafes, hanging in the parks, putting up new street art and just being alive.  It's a neighborhood full of life, offering most amenities that you would want in a city, and is super close to downtown SF and all other parts of California's largest city up north.

Here are a few pictures from the day, mostly of the street art which is everywhere.  There is a definite Latino vibe to the area which is captured by the murals. 

The Mission of which the area is named after

The Women's Building

Represent the Peacock yo!

Clarion Alley, full of street art action