Pam and I decided this week to take a day trip to Santa Cruz. We wanted to visit the store Synergy, and we kind of wanted to get out of the bay area for a day. I looked up dog-friendly beaches in Santa Cruz, and saw that a lot of the beaches allow dogs unleashed after 4 pm! How amazing is that?! We met up in the morning and drove down with Navi's head hanging out the back window. The first thing on our agenda was to find a farmer's market that I had found online, and explore! The GPS lead us wrong a few times, but we eventually found the farmer's market and a pretty nifty parking spot. We tied the dog up in a great shady area, and went into the Farmer's Market. The first stand was a stand with "live chocolate" where they don't roast the beans before making chocolate. It was very interesting. Pam got some really great chocolates with honey inside. I got a little batch of mixed truffles, and I didn't like them very much. At least I tried it! The farmer's market was very different than the one in Berkeley and San Francisco, and I really liked it. We got some gorgeous foods for dinner. I got a bag of salad greens with flowers in it! It was a lot of fun.
Then, we headed back to the dog, who was very happy to see us. We gave her some water and lots of love, and then headed back to the car. Then, we drove to downtown Berkeley, where the three of us went for a long and explored. We found the Synergy store and each got a few things. They let us bring Navi in, so she got to share a fitting room with me because she was desperate to be close since she didn't know the area. After we tried on pretty much every clothing article in the store, we finally left. Of course, I saw a great sun dress on the sales rack of the next store down, and had to try that on too. After that, I was pretty tired of trying on dresses! We roamed around, and found this cute little stand serving mexican food. They had a lot of customers, and the menu looked great, so we tried it! We split a chicken mole plate, and I got some lemonade. Pam got some sort of iced hibiscus tea (?) which she really liked. We also got this amazing side dish which was a piece of bread with bean paste spread on top, cheese, and chopped tomatoes with cilantro I believe on top...it was incredible. I need to figure out how to re-create that. It MADE our lunch. Two girls sat at the table next to us, and they adored Navi. It's always nice when people sit nearby that appreciate Navi, so I don't have to pay as much attention to making sure Navi is sleeping right under my chair.
After lunch, we wandered around in search for a great ice cream parlor. We didn't see any that really piqued our interest, but we kept seeing frozen yogurt places and it kept sounding so delicious and fitting for such a hot day that we caved, and got frozen yogurt. Pam bought way too much, and didn't feel well after eating it all. After that, it was around 4, so we decided to head back to the car and take Navi to the beach. I was really excited because Navi was really hot, and part of the main reason to drive to Santa Cruz was to take her to a new beach. It took us a while to find the beach, and at first we thought the "beach" was just a rocky cliff you could climb down. I was getting really nervous because Navi knew we were near water, and wanted to swim. I was worried I wouldn't find a safe place to let her swim and thus let her down. But then we rounded this corner and we could see this beautiful beach with dogs racing all around! It was beautiful and sandy and the waves were great. Navi dashed to the beach and was very happy. She wasn't used to the big waves and got tumbled around a few times, but she quickly learned when it was good to run into the water, and when to wait. After she learned the ropes of big ocean waves, we had a lot of fun! Navi is really smart; she learned that when the water started moving fast away from shore, a new wave was about to crash in. If I threw the tennis ball, and she noticed it pulling fast away from her as she ran to it, she would turn around and haul ass to get closer to me. Then after the wave crashed, she would dash out looking for her ball!
After playing for about an hour on the beach, we headed back to the car, tiredly piled in, guzzled liters of water, and headed home. It was a very fun day! When I got home, I threw together a salad of all the wonderful things I had bought at the farmer's market, fed Navi, took her for a quick walk, and passed out in bed!
Then, we headed back to the dog, who was very happy to see us. We gave her some water and lots of love, and then headed back to the car. Then, we drove to downtown Berkeley, where the three of us went for a long and explored. We found the Synergy store and each got a few things. They let us bring Navi in, so she got to share a fitting room with me because she was desperate to be close since she didn't know the area. After we tried on pretty much every clothing article in the store, we finally left. Of course, I saw a great sun dress on the sales rack of the next store down, and had to try that on too. After that, I was pretty tired of trying on dresses! We roamed around, and found this cute little stand serving mexican food. They had a lot of customers, and the menu looked great, so we tried it! We split a chicken mole plate, and I got some lemonade. Pam got some sort of iced hibiscus tea (?) which she really liked. We also got this amazing side dish which was a piece of bread with bean paste spread on top, cheese, and chopped tomatoes with cilantro I believe on top...it was incredible. I need to figure out how to re-create that. It MADE our lunch. Two girls sat at the table next to us, and they adored Navi. It's always nice when people sit nearby that appreciate Navi, so I don't have to pay as much attention to making sure Navi is sleeping right under my chair.
After lunch, we wandered around in search for a great ice cream parlor. We didn't see any that really piqued our interest, but we kept seeing frozen yogurt places and it kept sounding so delicious and fitting for such a hot day that we caved, and got frozen yogurt. Pam bought way too much, and didn't feel well after eating it all. After that, it was around 4, so we decided to head back to the car and take Navi to the beach. I was really excited because Navi was really hot, and part of the main reason to drive to Santa Cruz was to take her to a new beach. It took us a while to find the beach, and at first we thought the "beach" was just a rocky cliff you could climb down. I was getting really nervous because Navi knew we were near water, and wanted to swim. I was worried I wouldn't find a safe place to let her swim and thus let her down. But then we rounded this corner and we could see this beautiful beach with dogs racing all around! It was beautiful and sandy and the waves were great. Navi dashed to the beach and was very happy. She wasn't used to the big waves and got tumbled around a few times, but she quickly learned when it was good to run into the water, and when to wait. After she learned the ropes of big ocean waves, we had a lot of fun! Navi is really smart; she learned that when the water started moving fast away from shore, a new wave was about to crash in. If I threw the tennis ball, and she noticed it pulling fast away from her as she ran to it, she would turn around and haul ass to get closer to me. Then after the wave crashed, she would dash out looking for her ball!
After playing for about an hour on the beach, we headed back to the car, tiredly piled in, guzzled liters of water, and headed home. It was a very fun day! When I got home, I threw together a salad of all the wonderful things I had bought at the farmer's market, fed Navi, took her for a quick walk, and passed out in bed!
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