bears on barson

The Bears on Barson have added a baby bear! It has been eleven weeks and we are quite pleased with our tiny offspring- he is adorable and he fits into our family in such sweet and unexpected ways. Living in Santa Cruz as a mom has been a new thing- I have scoped out the best places on Pacific Avenue to nurse and change a diaper as well as which stores have narrow aisles with a terrible turning radius for our Uppababy Cruz.

Anyway, Jon and I decided that it was lame that we live 3 blocks from the Pacific Ocean but we never ever go to the beach. SO! My fair skinned partner and myself have decided that we will visit every beach in the county in the next year. Our first stop was Moran Lake Beach on a super windy Monday. Honestly, we mostly hid inside our beach tent staring at our baby, but I can see why this beach is such a nice spot away from the busy chaos of the Boardwalk. There is free parking across the street, and the waves aren't crazy. You know what is crazy? Setting up and packing up a beach tent with two adults, one of whom has a 13 pound baby on her chest. In between bickering about tent protocol muttering things like "push the pole, don't pull it" and "fold it in thirds not halves," we only lost one stake in the sand.

Here's to new traditions, new tent skills, and new babies!

Jon and I are counting down the weekends we have before the baby comes, so today we went to Monterey for a quick day trip. I'm a very big girl right now, so we were hella efficient and spent most of the day at the public library #lit. (literally.)

Our first stop was Compagno's Market and Deli, a local sandwich shop with excessive military decor?  It was delicious and seriously the whole sandwich is such a good deal- $12.50 for a sandwich the size of a large take out tray. No really look at the picture of Jon eating the sandwich. It required two hands to hold HALF of the sandwich. He is eating the other half for dinner as I type this.

Second, we went to Revival Ice Cream because that is what I have wanted to do for almost two years. We got Rose Tea (with cream cheese and white chocolate) and the Bee's Knees (burnt honey, bee pollen, beeswax, and honeycomb candy) in a waffle cone and it was perfect. Other flavors included: Apple Miso, Eucalyptus Mint, and some coconut milk flavor with lots of herbs.

After that, we just hung out at the Monterey public library (the first public library in California! Did you know!?) It was a great library- the clientele was mostly very old and the one guy at the table next to us typed with so much strength, I couldn't stop laughing.

Anyway, we dropped by a few places to pick up groceries- the Wharf Marketplace and one of those "10 artichokes for a dollar!" stands on the side of Highway 1, spending the rest of the drive home brainstorming names for our baby boy.

I am going to miss days like this one when we become a family of three!!

• Rodoni Farms is located at 4444 Coast Rd., Davenport CA. An address that this Canto girl considers quite scary.
• They're open daily from 9-5 (rain or shine!) from Sept. 30- Oct. 31. After that, it's an honor system payment system. 
• They have a 5 acre corn maze that costs $5 a person!
• Although their website said they only accepted cash and check, we were able to pay by venmo (@rodoni-farms).
• Read about the varieties of pumpkins and their uses here!

A few weekends ago, we went to check out the new Abbott Square! It's an open community space by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History with food and garden space and live performances! Currently, they have six mini restaurants:  popsicles, oysters, pizza, Cat & Cloud cafe with Companion Bakery (OUR TWO FAVORITES IN ONE. HOW!) poke, and some vegetable thing... and then two bars!

The best part is that many weekends, the ground floor of the MAH is free for the public to explore and that is how we found the DAHLIA COMPETITION. At first I laughed at them because some of them are like little balls on a stick and it's funny, but then I walked through like six whole rooms. Anyway, Dahlias are crazy and Jon and I came home and looked at the ones in our yard and were like these are gross. no one would vote for ours.

ABBOTT SQUARE THOUGH IS GREAT and I know that if it popped up in San Francisco, I would roll my eyes at the cliché use of negative space and reclaimed wood, but honestly.. I'm just so happy I can walk to good Neapolitan style pizza.

• The best time to go is at low-tide. You can check here. If we were to do this again, we would probably venture further out on the cliffs first so that we could get back to easier foraging ground as the tides came up.
• This guide gives you the most up to date information about commonly harvested kelp as well as ones that you cannot collect.
• If you are harvesting for personal fun (or a birthday friend's personal fun), you do not need a fishing license. The maximum collection per person for recreation is 10 lbs. 
• The best things we found in Davenport were sea lettuce and nori. Jon was sad he didn't find kombu.
• We parked along Davenport Landing Rd. where it was free!
• What to pack: a plastic bag to hold important electronics, a plastic collection bag, a sharp knife/gardening shears, shoes with good traction (rocks are slippery!), a guidebook, and breakfast because it is so early you forget how hungry you will be after two hours of touching silky kelp!

Jon and I took an afternoon trip on an empty tank of gas to the tiny town of Davenport. It's okay though, I once drove from Dublin to Belmont with the light on! Davenport is only 11 miles outside of Santa Cruz, so we were excited to explore the "slow coast" of our new home.

True story, though, it's small. Like I had to slam on the breaks because I almost missed the street and then I would have passed the entire town of Davenport. We visited this tiny art/shop/community center/garden collective that hosts multiple pop-up shops up and down Highway 1. Slow Coast highlights the stretch of California's coastline that is nestled between San Francisco and Monterey, offering products and events that support local artists and causes. They also have Air BnB rentals and edible slow coast boxes for delivery! In Davenport, Jon and I enjoyed visiting their general store because it offered everything that is beautiful and good (plants/warm blankets/flannel shirts) in a laid back yard with an air stream trailer. We grabbed some fish and chips at a nearby cafe and then when I suggested we look at the beach, Jon became overwhelmed by the sunlight even though we were still standing in the parking lot. He basically crumpled, crying out that he was "not prepared for this", so we ran back to the car.

For being the slow coast, it was quite the fast trip, but if you're already at Swanton Berry Farms, this isn't too far out of the way.

• Betsy's Summerhouse Antiques had the most knick knacks and California-centric vintage wares. The prices weren't too terrible, but the range was a bit unpredictable.
• Charley & Co.  was an adorable shop with a ton of home decor and gifts. They feature a ton of local artists and I appreciated their extensive selection of gnome-based goods.
• Lumen Gallery was beautiful! They have a ton of home decor items (both big and small) that reflect a clean design. I appreciate that they have beach-based goods that don't feature an explosion of anchors and ahoys.