The so called “format” of my trip consisted of an activity in the late morning/afternoon and then an activity in the late afternoon/early evening and if I was up for it something relaxing at night. I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough strength to do it all because of my hypothyroidism, but thankfully my body cooperated with me and I was able to do it all (or most of it all)! I had been feeling a lot more energized and upbeat before the trip which was a good sign. I was able to do DC with no problem.

 

Teahouse Spa: After dealing with that tearoom business, I was looking forward to doing some hard-core relaxing. I went to go eat somewhere near the boardwalk (but didn’t have time to walk around) and headed to Teahouse Spa afterwords. I had never been to a Spa like that before. It totally relaxed me and was a great beginning to my week. Really took my mind off some things and I did a water meditation which I believe to have jump started the healing process a little bit for the week. They had to fit me in a bit later in the evening, but I took the opportunity to walk around downtown Santa Cruz a little bit and got a taste for it. Saturday night downtown Santa Cruz is a little roudy if you ask me. It was relatively safe, but you surely didn’t want to ‘run’ into anyone if you catch my drift. But the rest of the week was fine, Saturday night is a huge party night for Santa Cruz.

 

 

Rosicrucian Park/Egyptian Museum: On Sunday, I met up my friend Gwen and we went to the Rosicrucian Park and their Egyptian Museum together. Definitely a must see if you’re into mysticism and spirituality. We took a tour of the park and then ended up in the library for a few hours and then saw the Egyptian museum. This museum is huge! I even got some inspiration for my studio from it. They had a cool reading room with a middle eastern vibe to it and had a bed canopy hanging from the ceiling and had the drapes attached to the walls. I found a canopy on ebay in the colors that I am using for my studio and bought it. I have high ceilings so it should work out. If you’re into Egyptian history you should totally see the museum. They have a replica of a temple, I unfortunately forgot which temple it is. Also by being a member of the Rosicrucian Order I got to go in free and got to bring Gwen as a guest so she didn’t have to pay anything.

 

 

 

 

Capitola Art and Wine Festival: As per my hostess’s suggestion I went to the Capitola Art and Wine festival the next day on Sunday. I drove out to Capitola which is only a few minutes away and ate lunch before I went to the festival. Headed down, bought my wine tokens and had a blast. I only drank about 3 glasses since I had to drive home. I walked around for a bit and I wanted to buy something but a lot of the art there was over my price range unfortunately. There weren’t that many that were selling prints or posters or something like that. Towards the end of the walk I found an artist that does linocuts and then colors them in. I feel like I’ve seen her art before and see seems to be a well known artist to the area. Capitola is a quint town that is a definite must see, especially if your around during the Art and Wine Festival. I then ate dinner in an near by Mexican restaurant and drove home.

 

 

Manresa Beach: I don’t think I need to go more into detail about this beach, since I told its’ story over in the Logistics section. Being an avid beach goer and beachcomber I was over the moon that I had the opportunity to pick up sand dollars. I think it was OK to pick them up because it was off season. Anyway, I managed to bring home a handful of sand dollars for my mom who is obsessed with anything and everything about the beach. It was a cool experience to pick up a sand dollar casually like you would a shell or rock. A lot of them I found to have holes in the center, so I don’t know if something ate them or it was just the way the waves brought them in but I did find a few whole ones.

 

Well that concludes the activities section of part 1! I’ll post activities section part 2 sometime later in the week. 🙂

 

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