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[JCZ]

  A good friend offered to let us use his condo in Santa Cruz for the Christmas holiday.  Weather is cooperating so we accepted, took advantage of it and rode.  Left home about noon today.

The ride wasn't to bad.  I mean the ride was great, the traffic wasn't to bad.  A brief stop in Los Gatos......is it really going to be Christmas in a couple days??



Back on Hwy. 17, we're back on the road to knock out the last twenty -five miles....no room for errors on this road...





We arrive in Santa Cruz and................are you kidding me?  Somebody is really surfing in this weather?  If the ocean didn't have currents, it would be a big block of ice.



We pass by the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.....but nobody's up on that wood roller coaster.



We arrived and unloaded.  Andy, Terrie and I walked over to the Crow's Nest for lunch.  We set upstairs in the lounge.
This was a view from our table.....a boat returning to harbor as the sun was going down.  Andy....this is the pic that we were talking about.



and a view out the other side of the lounge.....harbor side...



and the lighthouse, out on the point....



yep, there's even people in shorts and short sleeves playing sand volleyball in this weather....









Location, location, location......it doesn't get much better....



The view from the deck of the condo....a sailor's paradise.





The sun is going down.....Andy's heade back over the mountain on his SERG.



Terrie and I are off for a drive along the beach....





OK, truth be known.....probably took forty pictures trying to get this one pic of the wave crashing on the beach with the sun going down behind the lighthouse.....but I got it!









Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you.....the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean two days before Christmas 2011!



As we approach Capitola on Cliff Drive I notice a bunch of surfers in the water.....waiting for the right wave....



Capitola is a beautiful little town on the beach, as the sun goes down.  But it'll have to wait till tomorrow.....time for bed.

[BAGGER 1]

WOW, what beautiful weather, ride safe and Merry Christmas

[Buy early]

Great shots JC! Especially the one of the lighthouse with the sun behind. Looks like the sun is the lamp in the house! The wave is a bonus. Well worth the effort!

Remember when we lived in San Diego. It was always hard to get into the Christmas spirit.

Got a snow squall through here yesterday so it will be a mostly white Christmas here. Very pretty but also impossible to ride in. Life is a series of compromises.

Enjoy the coast, the weather, the riding, and a Blessed Christmas to you and Terrie!

[jamnflhxse2]

Great pics! Keep them comming and ride safe!

[JCZ]

Capitola......a great little town.  Be aware, they have an over zealous parking patrol and they seem to have a thron in their sides about motorcycles and motorcycle exhausts......keep it really quiet.  In this town you're only going to impress johnny law and he's going to impress you right back.  
At least that's the way it was in years gone by.  Didn't see one parking patrol last night.

Coming down the hill into downtown Capitola (the locals don't care how cold it gets)...















All these businesses have balconys (most have two levels) on the back side hanging over the water...



The Hotel Capitola is a ten room boutiqe hotel right in the heart of downtown Capitola.  They have microwave and refer in each room.  Looks to be a great location for a summer time stay, across the street from the beach.







Time to walk down to breakfast.  Will post more later.....

[fatboy63]

Really Great photographs, thanks for sharing.....Merry Christmas from a slightly grey and damp UK. 

[Twisty Joe]

JCZ...Great pics and thread.  Merry Xmas!!

[Gettinold]

JC I'm sure this will be a Christmas you'll remember for a long time! Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas to all!
      Dave & Helen

[JCZ]

Thanks a bunch for all the complaments here and the PMs.....I appreciate them.  Glad that you guys are enjoying them....makes it all worth it. 

We rode a tad bit over 200 miles today and got a slew of more great pics, too.  Incredable weather today.  Not only was it sunny and clear all day but much warmer, too.  It got up to 64F and we were ridng the ocean in t-shirts.

But back to strolling Capitola last evening.....



Capitola pier.....





and proof positive you're in the land of surfing and all that goes with it....



waxing his board, there on the left....











and the sign in the window of one of the surf shops says it all....























The Crows Nest is just across the street but it's closed tonight.  But if you missed a run pin, or a pin for your car club cruise, or your snowmobile team, or your scuba dive club, or ...........................they probably have it here at the Crows Nest (never saw anything like it before).....   



That pretty much sums up our day, yesterday.  Today was an equally great day with some really awsome sights.

[JCZ]

JC I'm sure this will be a Christmas you'll remember for a long time! Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas to all!
      Dave & Helen

I've been coming to this area since I was a kid.  Terrie and I have been here many times just in the past few years.....but what will make this Christmas so remarkable is because it's sunny, clear and very few people (normally thousands of people and absolutley no parking spaces) so yes, it will be a memorable Christmas for us.

[Sklywag]

Merry Christmas JC & Terrie

Hope to see you soon.

B&T

[2k]

Thanks for sharing your christmas adventure with us. Great job!

[guppytrash]

I want your life! 
Thanks for the great pictures!

[Grizzly]

Thanks for the great pictures JC... Interesting shots as always.

Hope you guys are enjoying a wonderful Chrsitmas and ride safe.

We're having a "green" Christmas here as well, just a  tad too cold to be riding though.

All the best for a happy & healthy 2012!

[JCZ]

I want your life! 
Thanks for the great pictures!

Not really all that different from some of the others on this forum.  A blue collar hourly employee just bumpin along in life.  Just happen to really enjoy photograpy as a hobby and I do ride reports of simple day rides, and other places that all of the Nor Cal have been a million times.

The difference being.....that I'm constantly thinking of those from other places around the country and around the globe that have never been or only been once or twice and the ride reports will help them to reminice their visits.  Everybody on this forum could do the same thing with their rides, wether they're day rides, over night rides or touring.  It would all be places that I and many others have never seen.  Come on now everybody.....get those cameras out and start working on "your ride report"!  Let's see em!

People think thoughts like "well, it's just flat farmland"......or "there's just not much here to see", etc. etc. and that's because they've grown complacent with their area and take it for granted.  But it's places the rest of us have never seen.....take the picture and post it.....we really do want to see your area.