Santa Cruz is Uber Hip Cali
Santa Cruz California seems to have it all…beautiful dramatic beaches, virgin redwood forests, outdoor markets and a mish mash hodge podge culture that oozes awesomeness.
It’s a place where it seems anyone and everyone can be cool. You’re a bum; that’s cool. You’re a surfer; that’s cool. You’re a street artist; that’s cool. You’re a doctor; that’s cool. While it has a quintessential Cali vibe, it also seems a bit more laid back. As if Santa Cruz isn’t trying to be uber hip, it just is. And it didn’t hurt that the city is home to one of the best coffee roasters we have been to in a really long time. A cup of Verve coffee on the beach with board in hand… yep, that’s about all I need in life but here are a few of our fave finds…
Best Coffee Shop:
Verve
Best Beaches:
- Dog Beach
- Lighthouse Point Park
- Natural Bridges State Beach
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- rugged beaches
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- arches rock
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- santa cruz sunset
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- santa cruz flower beach
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- santa cruz lighthouse at sunset
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- santa cruz bike
Best Tourist Attraction:
Roaring Camp Railroad
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- virgin forests
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- redwoods train
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- tall redwoods
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- close tree
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- roaring camp
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- blacksmith working
Shopping and People Watching:
- Outdoor Antique Market
- Street Artists at Lincoln St & Pacific Ave
Best day time activity not at the beach:
Disc Golf at Delaveaga (below: view from the tee box at “top of the world”)
Where we Parked It:
Santa Cruz Ranch RV Resort, even though it’s nothing like a Ranch, but they do have the fastest wifi ever at a campground.
Things you could stand to Skip:
- The boardwalk – the same as every other boardwalk
- Beach at the boardwalk – unless you just really want to be surrounded by people
Share your take on Santa Cruz in the comments below, were you wowed or bummed out by this city?
Disclaimer: While we were compensated to film the campground (thanks Thousand Trails!)…all of our experiences and opinions are NOT purchased and are our own.
Mike shea III
I grew up in SC and while there is much more, I thought you hit the basics pretty well! Glad you got to visit and nice work.
Brad
Ha! The guy sitting next to the piano is my son!! I live in COLD Minnesota. We love RVing, traded our 12 year old 5th wheel for a 2015 Newmar Dutch Star last May and put 7k miles on it by the end of the season. Next year another swing through New England (daughter getting her MBA in May) and Canyon lands in the fall. Need to drive it to Santa Cruz!!
Brad
Oops, typo. That’s a 2005 Newmar…can’t afford a new one 😉
Positively Santa Cruz
“A mish mash hodge podge culture that oozes awesomeness”
This is perfect. Just a funky slice of paradise.
Jason Wynn
Haha, we absolutely loved Santa Cruz! Can’t wait to return.
Nicki Baer
Ah.. SC is such a magical place. We were fortunate enough to call it home for 5 years. The Verve has a special place in my heart! The raw wood beams on the ceiling and the sweet staff:) Very pleasant and one of a kind experience.
Jason Wynn
Surprised how much we enjoyed SC, we had visions of foggy, wet, days similar to SF…oh boy how we were wrong! Can’t wait to go back.
Melanie
How much did it cost you at the Thousand Trails? Also, I noticed that a lot of people had light jackets on in your video. What time of the year was it taken?
Jason Wynn
Melanie,
we were in Santa Cruz in mid-April, it’s can be a little nippy when the wind kicks up, but when all is calm you can rock the shorts and T-shirts no problem.
For Thousand Trails you can pay per night which typically ranges from $30-$40 or so…OR…you can buy a membership for 500 bucks or so and stay for free at all the TT parks. It’s a cool program for sure, but you’ll want to check out their site for the details and up-to-date pricing.
Randy Spencer
Damn, you were in my back yard and I didn’t notice, and when the post goes up you are long gone… Good job of getting the feel of the place, gives me great confidence to trust your other reviews as you circle the nation. Check out the San Juans’, now that you are up north, love to know how you find getting from island to island with that big a vehicle
Jason Wynn
Randy,
We’re about to tackle the San Juans next month, don’t think we’ll have the RV on the islands, but we’re hoping to charter a boat here and there to visit a few.
As for the timing, I hear you 100%! I too wish we could accomplish everything before we left town, but that would mean we’d be in each city for a minimum of 2 weeks. Crazy right?
Richard Hubert
Did you get to Big Basin State Park just north of Santa Cruz? Beautiful big tree forests and mountains.
Jason Wynn
The Roaring Camp train dropped us off in the middle of some old growth, then we hiked the state park through the old growth across from the train. We take any chance we have to be surrounded by giants!
Karin@yumandmore
Wow guys loved this post and the beautiful pictures! don’t know how you get the pictures to change like that! it is uber hip! xox Karin
Jason
So cool that you visited Delaveaga! As soon as i saw your post about SC, I thought to myself, “if only they knew about DeLa.”
Are you disc golfers? If so, then that makes your site even more cool and interesting! If not, then no biggie and you are still living the dream. 🙂
Jason Wynn
Jason we are totally Disc Golfers, we used to post often about disc golf but it never got any love on FB, but this course was too cool to skip a mention. Loved it!
Thanks for watchin’