Last week I had emailed my brother about going down to hang out w/ him & Samara on Saturday, at their place in Santa Cruz. However, as plans fell into place I found out Chris was going down there on Saturday, too! So after a few phone calls we decided just to go ahead & drive down together and make a weekend of it. woohooo!
We first met up w/ Max & Samara at their cute little apartment (that I hadn’t seen yet) and then walked downtown to stop by Max’s office & his Om Gallery store. We started the afternoon at Ideal’s by the beach, for drinks & apps with their friends Christopher & Courtney. It was fun to sit in the sun and Samara got her bloody mary she’d been craving. :)
Max (my brother!) and his awesome girlfriend, Samara.
Chris & I enjoying the sun!
After that, we picked up Scout (max’s sweet doggie), some cold beers & headed to the beach. We played frisbee (one of my favorite sports! :) but didn’t take any photos. However, Max shot a video, so I grabbed some stills from that. It was pretty foggy on the beach by that time, but it wasn’t really that cold!
After that we got Samara & Courtney yummy Chai teas (which I ended up sharing because it was so delicious!) and then went back to Max & Samara’s to chill and let Samara get ready. Max played us some silly songs on his guitar, and a beautiful rendition of Pink Cow/Purple Elephant was played. (Pink cow is Scout’s stuffed animal toy – ha!)
After that we all walked down to the Red Room and had a few drinks. I had been there once before on a crazy evening out w/ my brother & Kyle a year or so ago – but completely didn’t remember the place except for that it was really red – ha!
The few shots taken at the Red Room were the last of the night for some reason, but after that I think we went & grabbed a slice somewhere (yummy) and then went to some other bar where Max proceeded to buy us one too many Irish Car Bombs. (Sarah, you would have been proud :) It was a super fun night!
Sunday we pretty much kicked off the morning with mimosas at breakfast, which led us to pickin up more champagne & orange juice and making a day of it! Chris & I didn’t have to get back, so Max & Samara drove us out to Natural Bridges State Park where we went & checked out the Monarch Butterfly Natural Preserve. The butterflies are all gone now, but it’s this cool place where you walk along this long wood deck path into the woods! Really amazing and serene. It was so nice to be outside, in the sun just chillin out w/ friends!
After cruisin around for a bit, it dawned on me we were probably really close to The Mystery Spot and we were! I actually didn’t realize *how* close it was, but I was so stoked because I’d been wanting to go there forever (again, another California local I haven’t been to in the 9 years I’ve lived here!) So we headed over, but couldn’t get on a tour for about an hour – but it turned out to be the best thing ever, because we all just hung out playing frisbee in the parking lot, and listening to Max play the guitar. So fun!
The Mystery Spot was cool… and worth checking out once in your life. I didn’t get any good shots of the before & after demonstrations they were doing (even though I snapped a ton of photos while we were in there! ha!), but it was pretty cool and I actually wish I would have participated more to see some of the cool things with myself and someone else, but either way – it was a neat little tour!
Chris & I drove home with big smiles on our faces from such a fun weekend. Him & my brother got along awesome and we all had a fantastic time! Here’s all the photos from the trip!
