Vacation, Day 3

By this point, we were really settling into the Santa Cruz way.... leisurely mornings and going with the flow were making for easy-going days, getting along, and a sense of relaxation along with all of the fun we were having. So relaxing, in fact, that we weren't ready in time to enjoy the hotel's continental breakfast. :) Luckily I was prepared and we ate in our room to save time.

First thing on the agenda was Roaring Camp, where we planned on taking the one-hour train ride through the nearby redwood forest. We got there with time to spare, so we hung out listening to Z's new CD for a few minutes. At 11am on a Tuesday, I figured we'd be riding the train by ourselves for the most part. Wrong! I failed to consider summer camps and field trips, and the people in line ahead of us to buy tickets were the last ones on the 11 o'clock train. UGH! Though I did have the rest of our day planned out, I decided to take the 12:30 train and enjoy the area while we waited.

There were a few fun things for Z to do, and a duck pond and a little store we killed some time at. Then we took the 30 minute hike that looped into the woods behind the Camp... it was a nice little walk and I'm actually glad we had a chance to do it. There weren't HUGE trees on the walk, but it was a good preview for what we were going to see on the train and really, according to Z, the trees were so so so so tall!






Once we made it back, the train ride was great. The weather was perfect, the views were beautiful... it was nice. I think the highlight for little man was when the conductor came and took his ticket, though. Afterward he said "this is a real train, right mom?" and got a huge smile on his face when I confirmed.






I had originally planned to head to Monterey after the train ride, but our day was delayed and I was driving around aimlessly and hungry for a while. I asked my travel companion what he felt like doing and his idea sounded best of all. We stopped at our hotel to collect some food for a snacky type picnic and spent the rest of the day here...





We strolled back into the downtown area on the search for dinner. On the way, we found a way cool toy store and played for a while in there. The girls who worked there were awesome and Z had a blast with them while I shopped and found some really neat building toys which we've been having a great time with ever since. The girls recommended a kid-friendly eatery, and after a yummy dinner we were both ready for bed.

This was an awesome day!