“Life is Brief and Fragile, do that which makes you happy on a regular basis, because the next day promises nothing"
National Bike Month is promoted by the League of American Bicyclists and celebrate in communities from coast to coast. Established in 1956, it offers a chance to showcase the many benefits of biking. My good friend Bill and I drove over the Santa Cruz Mountains to the beach trail along West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz watching local surfers catch waves in front of the historic lighthouse and and the Surfing Museum. There was a lot of damage during the recent storms, including sidewalks completely into the ocean below which simply meant we had to ride around the orange protective barriers for about ten minutes.
The rock wall of West Cliff can be seen beyond the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf where the raucous seagulls were flying on the thermals, and the barking herds of gregarious sea lions took shelter on—as they always do—the wooden beams and joists below at the very end of the pier.
We continued on riding, passing the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk which includes thrill rides including the Cliff Hanger, Crazy Surf, Cyclone, Typhoon, and the Giant Dipper Rollercoaster to name a few. Since its opening in 1907, the “Boardwalk" was referred to as the “Coney Island of the West.” Once past the boardwalk, we reached the 10-foot wide multi-use path along side the San Lorenzo River Railway trestle, and then onto the Santa Cruz small craft harbor that holds about a 1,000 wet-berthed vessels used for commercial fishing, pleasure power boats, and sailboats.
We also stopped at the nearby Walton Lighthouse which serves as a signal for the Santa Cruise Small Craft harbor boats. As I reached for my cell phone in my left pant pocket to take a photo of the lighthouse, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. It was missing. I remembered taking my last photo on the pathway next to San Lorenzo River Railway Trestle. Bill and I circled back. I knew it was a long-shot as it was about a mile away, but I had to see it through before mourning the loss. I had Bill call my phone hoping someone would answer or we could hear a ring in the near distance. He tried five times. Miraculously, on the fifth ring we heard a light ring. Bill found the cell phone sitting on a flat, two-by-four section that capped the length of a wooden fence. I breathed a sigh of relief. Some compassionate stranger must have seen it laying on the ground and placed it on the fencel.
Returning back to the harbor, we spotted a some happy local fishermen cut, clean and wash their big catch of Rockfish (a.k.a. Rock Cod). Moving on we passed Aldo’s Italian Restaurant which was bustling with patrons on the outside patio underneath white umbrellas. We then headed to Capitola Village. As we approached Bill pointed out a missing section of the pier that was damaged by the same storms that had affected Santa Cruz, rendering it unusable. When we got to Esplanade Park, there stood the familiar bronze sculpture of snuggling Sea Lions. Bill and I had lunch at Zelda’s. We were famished. He had a seared Ahi Salad and I had a Mahi-Mahi Sandwich that didn’t disappoint.
Postscript: As we headed home, sirens were screaming as multiple fire trucks, an EMT, a sherriff’s vehicle, CHP, and Cal-Fire whizzed passed us. After arriving home we found out that authorities in Santa Cruz County recovered a body of a 29-year old man off the coast at Scott’s Creek Beach after a vehicle
veered off Highway 1 and drove off a steep cliff into the Pacific Ocean. The driver, from Dallas, Texas, was sadly pronounced dead at the scene. Life is short indeed.
