Santa Cruz 101 – the last course you’ll ever need!
My father told me that the quickest way to RUIN an area is to build a good road to it.
Maybe that is what has saved Santa Cruz.
I just read a delightful travel article written for the Los Angeles Times TODAY by Christopher Reynolds, “reporting from Santa Cruz.” Chris correctly notes that Santa Cruz, “Three-hundred and forty-five driving miles north of Los Angeles, 72 miles south of San Francisco and many leagues to the left of Middle America…” has no easy freeway access (how “SoCal!” 
), and that its nearest commercial airports are at San Jose and Monterey. The main paths to Santa Cruz are Highway 1 (aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!) and Highway 17, the “Highway of Shame.” (So nicknamed by a daily commuter from Santa Cruz to Silicon Valley, for the DRIVING that was observed….)
I have been pleasantly surprised lately at the number of visitors who have been reading a blog entry of mine entitled, simply, “Santa Cruz,” that I wrote in October of 2007, also on a Sunday. You can get a feel for my love of Santa Cruz from that article, but just for the “heck of it,” I looked back to see how many blog entries I have written with the words “Santa Cruz” in the title, ALONE! There were (chronologically ) an even dozen, so far, until I press “Publish” (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)! I must love the place even more than I realized, maybe particularly because there is not a “good road” to it. I have a dream of “retiring” there, someday, a dream that will likely not be realized. (Retirement is what people USED to do in the United States when they had some control over the time that their employment, working for others, would end. I suspect that many people of my generation will never “retire.” I used to joke that my goal was, instead, “to keel over on the job!” [How embarassing for everyone involved! ])
Embedded in Chris’s article is a 1 minute, 48 second video entitled, “Santa Cruz 101: 11 tips for travelers.” Watch it! It seems pretty obvious that the Santa Cruz “ambience” is getting to Chris! His article does an excellent job of looking at lodging there, and you can almost taste the food at the restaurants that he visited.
I don’t know whether Chris has to “return south” after his visit or not, but if you see him on Pacific Avenue in a café, or with his toes in the sand at some Santa Cruz beach, thank him for a very well-written and informative travel piece. Let’s hope that not TOO many people take his advice….
-Bill at
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