Saratoga

We arrived at Access RV in Salt Lake City last Friday at 8:30am and dropped off our rig that had been 'home' for the past 3 weeks.  Big sigh of relief that we had driven 1900 miles with no accidents or mishaps!  Praise God for answering those prayers!

(kids seeing a TV for the first time in 3 weeks)

They dropped us at the airport and we were on our way to SFO (yes, we double and triple checked the time of our flights this time).  After the uneventful flights, we arrived on time at 2:38 PST and our friends- Scott, Kelly and their kids- picked us up.  Luckily they had the foresight to drive both of their cars and we just fit the 6 of us, the 5 of them and all of our luggage in.  We were so excited to see them and the kids even more so.  We would be staying with them in Saratoga for the next 3 days and then the two families would be heading to San Francisco where we rented a house for Monday through Wed nights.  We spent the rest of Friday hanging out and catching up long into the night.

 

On Saturday we had a nice, slow morning eating breakfast and discussing what we wanted to do today.  After hearing about a few options, the kids made the decision to head to Castle Rock State Park in the Santa Cruz mountains.   This park contains some hiking trails that lead to some huge rocks that used to be under water and at some point were pushed up by the San Andreas Fault.  You can easily see some of the smooth holes, caves and pock marks that were made while they were covered by water.  The kids had a blast climbing on, in and around them.

For the afternoon, we decided to go from the mountains to the sea and we drove to the coast to relax on the beach in Capitola (a small town next to Santa Cruz) and have a late lunch.  It was a perfect day on the beach.  The air temperature was only 65 but the sun was out and made it feel much warmer.  The water was about 60 and warm enough for the kids to play in most of the afternoon. 

Today we got up and headed to church in Los Gatos at the Calvary Church where our friends attend.   They have their fellowship time (opportunity between the 9am and 10:45 services to socialize over coffee, tea, doughnuts, etc..) outside in the courtyard.  We thought that was pretty cool to be able to do that outside all year.  It was an excellent service and a great message and from what we could see, it was an active church with a true heart for God.
After church we strolled around downtown Los Gatos and had lunch at a great Greek restaurant.  Sometime tomorrow we will head out to San Francisco for the last part of our vacation: Alcatraz, Coit Tower, Fishermans Wharf, Goldengate Park are a few of the things we are planning to see.