By The Sea! Day trip, Santa Cruz Coast |
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| There's a $10 admission fee to the UCSC Arboretum just outside the entrance to UC Santa Cruz. |
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| Open daily "10 to 4" but we found them open at 9AM. Great place to wander, take photos, picnic. |
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| Native, non-native succulents, cactus, bright, scented plants in this area. |
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| Some of the cactus are in bloom. |
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| Saw 2-3 varieties of brightly colored flowers resembling Sticky Monkeyflowers. |
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| Leaving the scented garden, follow paths that weave among some very exotic trees and shrubs. |
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| What a sight! These bright colors will take your breath away! |
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| Large pom-pom sized flowers with little or no scent. |
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| Vivid colors and lots of different varieties. |
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| In bloom now but will fade in the days, weeks ahead. |
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| Lots of photo opportunities throughout the arboretum. |
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| There are benches and shaded picnic tables at various places. |
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| There's a handful of exotics with flowers resembling seedpods. |
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| The Arboretum is wonderful habitat for birds, insects, butterflies, lizards, and definitely snakes. |
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| Lots of exotic flowers are in bloom. Really fun place to take photos. |
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| These are just a fraction of the flowers that bloom in the arboretum. |
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| Plan to spend at least 1-2 hours exploring the grounds, visiting the Arboretum's gift shop. |
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| North of Santa Cruz, this old truck caught our eye - and the sign announcing Jam Tasting. |
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| The jam tasting shop is behind a cluster of farm buildings. |
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| Lots of jams, jellies, seasonal fruit, coffee, tea, strawberry-lemonade, pies, pastries, chocolate-dipped fruit. |
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| Unique payment method ... note the sea shells, bits of driftwood in cash drawer. |
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| Impressive display honoring Caesar Chavez, farm workers organizer and founder of the UFW. |
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| Brightly colored chairs, picnic tables outside, but what caught our eye was the "pet stairs" beneath the window. |
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Further north, we stopped at Ano Nuevo State Park. |
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There's a level, wheel-chair accessible loop trail out to the beach and back. |
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| Wildflowers bloom along the way. |
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| We visited these places on a Monday. I imagine it's fairly crowded on weekends, except the Arboretum. It's one of the coast's best kept secrets. |
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