A Running Tour of Santa Cruz

Today was the best day.  I know I say that a lot, but today really was the best day.  Janae and I took it upon ourselves to visit Santa Cruz on what happened to be the most beautiful day in history.  Sunny, blue skies, and a light breeze.  

We wanted to do a run together on the beach, but we were torn because we also wanted to see the entire city.  (And by see the entire city, we mean stop at all of the Candy stores).  The perfect solution?  A running tour of Santa Cruz, complete with stops for pictures, seal viewing, candy and ice cream. 

We started out by running to the Wharf.   

I'm not sure if this was a usual occurrence, but there were tons of seals hanging out just asking for their pictures to be taken!  It was so much fun to see them splashing around.  

We then ran to the boardwalk and looked at all of the fun rides and amusement park foods.  I learned that they are now frying things like Bacon and Twinkies.  A perfect solution to the nationwide obesity epidemic, don't you think? ;)

Downtown Santa Cruz is lined with all sorts of fun restaurants, like this one:

We were sad to discover that all of the foods weren't cooked with Chocolate. A bit of a misnomer if you ask me.  If anyone knows of such a restaurant, please let me know.

Then came the fun.  Candy stores...

And $1 scoop ice cream.  I mean, can you turn that down?  Sometimes a lactose-intolerant girl has to live on the edge.  

Brooke was jealous of my treat.

Janae had been talking about a place that serves the best Fish'n'Chips in the world, so we drove up the coast to a cozy little town called Davenport.  It is situated across from a deserted, beautiful beach.

Love this little girl.

There are about 4 buildings that comprise this town, but the important one was Whale City Bakery and Grill:

We split the order which turned out to be just right.  I wish the picture did it justice.  Moist, flaky, buttery fish in a perfectly crisp coating.  Homemade fries were the perfect match.

Jake gets here tomorrow for graduation on Saturday, so I'm excited to take another road trip to Davenport for more deliciousness.  

If any of you have favorite San Francisco Bay area restaurants/day trips that Jake and I should do before leaving in 2 weeks.... please let me know!

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In case you didn't get enough puppy love yesterday, I wanted to share the cutest video ever that I took while visiting him.  I brought him a toy to play with and let's just say... he liked it.

So adorable. Only a little while longer until he gets to come home with Jake and I!  

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