I'm sure you all missed me

After my long awaited and much needed vacation, I am now back in sunny and warm Southern California. It's approximately 85 degrees out right now, but after spending 9 days up north where it reached a high of 76, it feels a bit warmer.

Anywho, my drive up to Santa Cruz wasn't so bad. I did my best to annoy my sister by asking every few minutes, "are we there yet" or "can you drive" or "I think we were supposed to get off in San Miguel, not San Miguel Canyon". All in all she couldn't wait to get out of the car, so mission accomplished.

Here are a few pics of the beach at the end of the street. There are a couple of seals in the water pretty close to the shore.

Spending time reading, sleeping, eating, sleeping, playing games, sleeping, and other random things with my mom, sister and grandparents was pretty cool. It was kinda weird not waking up to check fantasy sports teams and the latest news of the superficial and such. It was nice to wake up around 10:30-11:00 am everyday to find emails waiting for me. Thanks to all of you who were kind enough to remember how bored I could get.

On Wednesday, my family packed up their stuff and headed back to Alhambra, leaving me to do whatever for the next couple days until Wally and John arrived.

Above is a picture of me and the swamp out behind my house as I watch the car roll away. Amy told me to take an emo picture, I guess that's as emo as i get.

So shortly before they left I realized I had forgotten two things, my copy of CIV 2 and my cell phone charger. So that at least gave me something to do.....

......20 bucks though? smart one Brad.

While killing time I did a lot eating and drinking coffee. Here are some shots of things I had:

On Friday, I took a 1 hour cruise of the Santa Cruz section of the Monterey Bay. It was a really nice day out. (note: I was going to take the 3 hour cruise that included dolphin/whale watching but I overslept...hey don't judge me). We started at the Santa Cruz Wharf, and went around over to Seal Rock and then over to the Santa Cruz Marina, passed by the Beach Boardwalk and then back to the wharf. They had promised us otters, but they were no where to be seen.

So yes that was the first part of my trip. Tomorrow I will fill you all in about the remaining portion where I go to San Francisco and the trip home. Trust me its great. I mean how can you not have fun with people like this: