My earliest memories of Santa Cruz vacations go back to about 1957. We always stayed at the Barson Street Apartments until 1958 when my sister was born. Then we moved across the street to the B&B Motel until about 1962. Next we vacationed at the Redwood Village motel in Aptos until about 1975. We would always get to spend at least one evening at the Boardwalk and we’d always stop at Mariannes ice cream on the way back to the motel. We could usually afford one night out for dinner and Adolf’s was the choice most times! A visit to Santa Cruz was not complete without a trip to the Wrigley’s gum plant, Begonia fields, Natural Bridges State Park and a drive along West Cliff Drive to stop and watch the surfers. These are a few of the lifetime of memories I have after spending nearly every vacation in Santa Cruz. Both of my parent’s ashes have been spread at sea in Monterey Bay out of the Santa Cruz yacht harbor. We have a plaque memorizing them placed on the wharf in Capitola, where they continue to look out over the area they loved most. Today, we continue passing our love of Santa Cruz to our own three children and our grandson.
Voted the World’s Best Seaside Park
