Santa Cruz-Boardwalk

 On to the main attraction in Santa Cruz, the boardwalk.  Moving away from the pier, a number of structures border the boardwalk.   The first building houses the largest of the arcades.  There are some smaller arcades as you walk toward the San Lorenzo river end.

A variety of arcade games from old to retro to recent.  Theres a row of newer pinball machines but only 3 of the 6 were working.  Those would include Stranger Things, The Munsters, and Star Wars.  Ghostbusters, Guardians of the Galaxy and another were either turned or out of service.  Later in the day, I spent a good amount of time on the 3 working machines.  My play was extended with a combination of matches and beating the replay score to "pop" an extra credit.

Aside from a Laser Tag room, there were a number of machines where you can win tickets to redeem for prizes.  There is a miniature golf course a few doors down.  There were coin pushers, skee ball, basketball hoop, etc.  Another staple of arcades are air hockey tables.

After exiting the arcade, theres a large permanently covered walkway where you are sheltered from the sun as you browse candy shops, retails surf shop,  and another arcade.

Marini's seems to be the local candy shop.  Salt water taffy seems to be a mandatory offering at boardwalks around the country.  A variety of flavors so you wont get "board(bored)" with them.

A delicious array of candy/chocolate covered apples cooling before being put on exhibitiion for sale.  What kids' jaws wouldnt drop when they see these

The light at the end of the tunnel.  The building opens up to the rest of the boardwalk where all the rides can be found.  This area is not covered and you can be fully exposed to the sun.  After 5 hours or so at Santa Cruz, a mix of indoor and outdoor, I did experience a bit of sunburn on the shoulders and the back of the neck.

The newer rides are located at the north end while the more nostalgic and vintage rides are found starting at the midpoint to the southern end of the boardwalk.

One of my most favorite rides are the ones that drop you from a high height.  Its such a pure and simple concept but the thrill can pack an intense feeling.   This ride shoots you to the highest point before gravity brings you back down.  But, wait, you bounce back up one more time before being brought back.

Part of the fun of coming to places like these are the variety of the carnival/junk foods everyone can indulge in.  Some are house in permanent structures while others on in kiosks that dot the walk

I grabbed some deep fried artichokes as a snack later in the day.  They were good and I was surprised to find they provided small packs of Newman's Own ranch dressing.  Typically, they would spurt some no name dressing out of a large plastic dispenser into a small plastic cup.

The smell of garlic fries is just so incredible and the aroma can be found throughout the boardwalk.  Aside from the kiosks, they can be found at the many burger and hot dog venues.  Fancy a corn dog with garlic fries?  Yes, they can be found together as well.  You can get them at the gyro/falafel shop too

Deep fried options range from the usual to the unusual.  Usual: corn dog, fries, funnel cakes, and churros.  Unusual but not so much these days: Oreos, Twinkies, and peanut butter jelly sandwiches.

One of the icon attractions is the vintage carousel housed in the building on the left.  It was featured in a Clint Eastwood movie, Sudden Impact.  The police drama chronicled Harry "Dirty Harry" Callahan's attempts to bring forth his style of justice.  Though not labeled as Santa Cruz, many people recognized the locale.

The draw of the ride lets riders on the outer portion of the carousel reach out and try to grab a metal ring, part 1.  Part 2, try to throw the ring into the clowns mouth to get his eyes to flash and the buzzer to ring.

In the last 2 pictures, there are feet dangling from above.  This lazy man's conveyance is the Sky Glider.  Up to a pair of people can glide above the rabble of the crowds below while enjoying the scenery from a different vantage pint.

One of the fun games I like to play, while on the ride, stamping on the  fun goers below like ants because they look like a swarm of ants.  TMI???

The most famous ride is the Giant Dipper wooden roller coaster.  It is one of the oldest existing wooden coaster in the US.  As such, it has fallen out of favor from a very long time ago.  I fancy the modern steel coaster for the smoother ride and the incredible amount of distance current coasters can fall from.

That is not to say that I have never ridden this before.  Trips, while I was a teen and young adult, would not be complete without a ride.  For any coaster enthusiast, this is also a must ride

Now we near the southern portion of the boardwalk where the majority of rides are suitable for younger children.  Spinning carnival rides and scaled down thrill rides abound around the log flume ride to the left.

For those who are not partial to dipping their toes into the ocean, a splash after a drop can be up their alley.  Kids can get their faces painted while the parents watch on.  Eating options include "chinese" food.  And, a small enclosed arcade if you need to get out of the sun.

Beach soccer pitches were set up for a tournament to be held during the weekend that I was there, according to their website.

At one point, I started to develop a headache.  My first panicked thoughts were of contracting Covid from someone who might not have been vaccinated.  Later, I found I just had my cap on too tight.  Whew!!

 

All in all, it was a wonderful day off.  It felt like it was one of the most enjoyable days I have had in a long while.  Even the drive out of Santa Cruz provided few obstacles as I breezed through the mountains to get to Silicon Valley.

In previous years, there were concerts on the beach at different times during the day and evening.  Although I was never able to attend one, it sounds like it would be a nice cap to a day spent in Santa Cruz.