Spent a few days in the Santa Cruz/Capitola/Aptos area....free use of a beach house with friends. We had an unconventional Thanksgiving with lobster, crab and ribeye. Three dogs for plenty of long walks and exploring everything! My Little Pony has a t-shirt that says Keep Santa Cruz Weird (his daughter is in school there, a banana slug graduating in June). No chance of Santa Cruz NOT being weird. Lots of street musicians, costumed performers, and tragically hip people populating the sidewalk cafes and coffee shops. There is a large Mexican population just outside of downtown, and that meant some fabulous hole in the wall restaurants with terrific food! Mole, anyone? Homemade tamales and salmon (!) tacos.
Capitola is charming with a capital C. Just a cute little village with lots of interesting shops, galleries, and ice cream joints. The place must be fueled on ice cream. But we noticed that almost every shop offered 25% off everything, and the retailers had a bit of desperation about them. Bet the place will look very different in a year.
Aptos is an undiscovered beach town that's still funky, although housing prices are even higher than Nevada City. Nice neighborhoods, crowded with dog walkers. I expect it will become gentrified in the next few years, when the economy rebounds. That said, it's GREAT to be home. There's no place like Nevada County!
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