May 18th - May 20th Visiting The Birth Place of Trevor’s Bike

We made our way toward the ocean and found a campsite at the very shady Henry Cowell State Park north-east of Santa Cruz. It just so happened that a stage of the Tour of California was to finish at the Santa Cruz boardwalk.  It was Trae’s 5th birthday & Trevor’s lucky day!  Santa Cruz was so excited about the tour that they even let out the schools early to watch the race.  The stage finish was downtown along the boardwalk and it seemed like everyone was out on their bike.  We got lots of free stuff at the event and managed to catch a blurred view of the cyclists as they sped in a cluster toward the finish.    It was a tight finish as 3 of the riders finished within milliseconds of each other.   They’re so fast you literally see a blur of moving color as they ride past.

For Trae’s 5th Birthday we walked the Santa Cruz boardwalk and road one of the rides as it was getting to closing time.   For dinner,  we had Trae’s favourite…cheeseburgers and birthday cupcakes!  We celebrated in the trailer as we decorated it with signs & balloons.   We actually tricked him into thinking that his birthday was tomorrow as we had to take the time to get the trailer set up.  When he entered the trailer, we all yelled surprise.  He was in a little shock as he believed that his birthday was to be tomorrow.  Once he found out that today was the 18th, he replied that he knew all along and that he was the one who tricked us!!! Oh, 5yrs old and knows it all.

The following day Trevor and Trae toured the Santa Cruz bike factory while Kiah and I were treated to a  view of dolphins playing in the ocean on our stroll along the seaside!  The factory is humble in appearance with no flash or even a sign to indicate.  Trevor & Trae got a personal tour and Trevor managed to hold his dream bike. 

The following day, we travelled the coast to San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge and found an RV park just north of the city from where we could catch a ferry to downtown.   We caught the ferry in the afternoon and managed to ride a cable car, see the world’s most crooked street, look in a few shops, watch a couple street performers, eat dinner in China town and catch the second last ferry of the day back to our beds.  Needless to say, we were all spent as we hit our beds about 10pm.  The following day Trev did a long bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge and was able to get 4hrs in on the bike.   The weather in San Fran started to get windy, wet and cold, so we took it as an opportunity to get back on the hwy and travel north.