The great thing about living in the Bay Area is its proximity to both snow and sand.
It's Spring Break and I'm going to take my daughter and her friend on a short trip
down to Monterey.
Monterey County is about an hour and a half south of the Silicon Valley.
To get there, we'll drive through Santa Cruz (nicknamed "Surf City") which is
world famous for its hippie surf culture.
Locally known are the Santa Cruz mountains with their beautiful redwood views and small,
family wineries and farms.
We've stopped and we're doing a quick stop here in Santa Cruz and we're here at
the Mystery Spot.
It's actually one of Santa Cruz's most famous tourist destinations and I've never
checked it out before so I thought I would swing by here on my way down to Monterey.
The Mystery Spot is located in the Santa Cruz mountains and it's just really beautiful
weather here but definitely bring some mosquito repellent with you if you come up here.
There are lots, and lots of mosquitoes and other inspects up here in the wooded area.
So the background behind the Mystery Spot, it was actually discovered in 1939 by a man
named George Prather who purchased this little piece of land from a lumber company.
Originally Prather only wanted to buy the level land but the lumber company insisted
that he purchase all of the property including the sloped area back behind the level area,
and it's probably because they wanted to offload it.
When they went up there to survey, they noticed some off the charts gravitational anomalies.
There's strange things that happen up there including the gravity exerting such force
that it shrinks you and also that the gravity pulls you in certain directions so that you're
leaning at anywhere between 2 and 17 degrees.
The Mystery Spot is only about 150 feet in diameter so it's quite a small area to cover.
Although the tour is about forty five minutes, you're only going to be seeing one small
spot.
But it's definitely worth it to do just to see an area that's defying the law of
physics.
There's a couple of different theories as to the mystery behind why there's all these
gravitational anomalies; some people believe it has to do with us being underneath a hole
in the ozone layer, there's another theory that has to do with magma going in a different
direction underneath us and causing a difference in gravity, and then by far the most far out
one is that a space craft landed here a long, long time ago and the engine is still running
and therefore causing these gravitational anomalies.
There is a small two-room shack that sits directly at the center of the Mystery Spot
and this is where the effects are greatest with water seeming to run uphill,
people leaning at odd angles,
and objects floating in mid-air.
As you walk through the rooms there is this sense of discombobulation from the weird gravitational
effects and some people supposedly get dizzy and motion sick from it.
After the tour, everyone receives the famous yellow Mystery Spot sticker which can you see
on car bumpers all over the Bay Area.
Here's one that's visited a couple thousand times.
Once you're finished with your tour, there's a quick little ten to fifteen minute trail
back behind the Mystery Spot that takes you up around the woods.
It's really pretty and I would recommend that you do it just to take a look and see
what the mountains of Santa Cruz are like.
The Santa Cruz mountains are classified as a temperate rainforest, which is what makes
it so great for growing viticultural grapes and other cool crops such as tomatoes.
On the ocean facing side are old growth redwoods which make for great hiking trails.
Tons of folks live back here and the redwood forests make for a spectacular backyard view.
There's a new dahlia garden along this trail providing free, cut dahlias daily on this shelf.
Alas, none were available today…
We're stopping for lunch in downtown Santa Cruz at a very popular eatery called The Buttery.
It's mainly known for its very decadent desserts and baked goods but its got a whole
cafe section with very reasonably priced sandwiches and soups and during the mornings,
during brunch, its got great brunch items.
It's not the most refined or attractive presentation but the food sure is super tasty!
My black bean torta has savory refried beans, tomatoes, avo, and queso cheese.
The house special veggie rice plate is cooked in a chicken stock bursting with flavor.
The house soup today is made from a tomato base with yummy chunks of chicken and fresh veggies.
Plus homemade bread for dipping.
We're here now in Monterey and we're going to be staying at the Monterey Tides, which
is a small boutique hotel that is run by the Joie De Vivre Group.
Since this is planned as a beach destination vacation, it was really important for us to
find a place that was located literally right on the beach, which the Monterey Tides is.
Let's go in and check it out.
The hotel is located right next to Seaside which is a public state beach.
For bikers, there is a bike path that runs in front of the hotel.
I've already seen several bikers come through here this morning.
The hotel is also located right next to the freeway, so be aware of this if you're going
to get a garden view room.
These are the garden view rooms.
This is sort of your standard motel room.
It's probably a little bit more upscale than standard, so it's nicely appointed,
got great furnishings.
It's kind of nice because it actually has some great amenities here.
You've got sort of a full stock of soaps, and you've got beach towels here so you
can go to the pool or down to the beach, provide you with robes which are really nice, and
more amenities here in the bathroom.
But the reason why you come stay here is not for the room, you're coming because of this…
beach views right from your room.
[Sound of waves crashing]
A really fun thing to do at night is to build a bonfire on the beach
and roast some marshmallows and make some s'mores.
The hotel here offers a great package for twenty five dollars; twenty dollars for firewood
for building a bonfire of your own and five dollars for a s'mores kit.
A whole host of other bonfires down the beach.
The death of our bonfire.
Can you guys hear that?
There's nothing more soothing than the sound of the ocean in
the background as you fall asleep at night.
Good night!
No comments:
Post a Comment