“To me, it doesn’t matter whether…the sun is shining…as long as I’m riding a bike I know I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
—Mark Cavendish
Bill and I were invited to join good friends James (Jimi) and Jennifer Hunter yesterday at a beach house in Aptos where they are vacationing with their grandson Wesley. Mutual friend, Gary Covell joined the guys for a morning bike ride along neighboring beaches which included Manresa State Beach and La Selva Beach near Watsonville, Seacliff and Capitola. Jimi, a retired teacher, former triathlete and always the jokester welcomed us at the private gate of the home of a friend, wearing a white and green top hat with a cannabis leaf imprint, and a black Bicycle Outfitter shirt.
The magnificent three bedroom, three bath 2,200 square foot home known as La Casa de La Contenta (Spanish for House of Contentment) combines the love of nature and luxury and captures the essence of California coastal living. It sports a million-dollar panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean and includes a relaxing hot tub which we luxuriated in after our 25-mile bike ride.
The Hunters also hosted lunch, which included BBQ chips, chocolate chip cookies, beer and soft drinks. La Casa is nestled within the grounds of New Brighton State Beach, one of the most popular and most visited state beaches in California.
This popular recreation spot is connected with Seacliff State Beach, where the Ohlone Indians thrived for thousands of years on the area’s plentiful natural resources. From the back yard
deck one could see Seacliff’s famous fishing pier in the distance that extends out to a unique concrete tanker, the SS Palo Alto, a remnant form the World War I era that never saw wartime service. It was turned into an elaborate amusement center, and later brought to rest in the shallow water near the beach. During our ride we stopped to take a group photo near this landmark.
Postscript: Jimi led us to Seascape Park, in Rio Del Mar where we unexpectedly found ourselves in the midst of a Tai Chi class in progress. Having taken Tai Chi classes at Courtside Bay Club—as did Jimi—we were happy to see the students keep their calm without being distracted by our intrusion in their space, and we respectfully moved on.
