Today was fantastic! The weather never got higher than the mid 70s, it was sunny, and we ate well. A lot of the day was spent in traffic, but the places we ended up at were great. A good bit of the day was walking around Santa Cruz, one of the filming locations for The Lost Boys. I didn’t see any vampires, but I do have an awesome picture to share below.

We got a bit of a slow start. I was up, alert, and ready to fight the day at around 7:30am. Someone else was a bit hung over…poor little guy. But once we got rolling it was straight to burgers, garlic fries, and shakes at Betty Burgers. Their burgers are sold with special “lube” not sauce. Whatever you call it, it was good. My Turkish Coffee milkshake was also a great decision.

After lunch we walked down to the beach and sat in the sand for a bit. Then off to the boardwalk! We went to a magik shop owned by some crazy wizard who’s wife apparently coined the term poly-amorous. In the back of the shop was a guy who looked like a young, thin Alan Moore watching The Golden Girls. It was not the only weird encounter with this guy today.

In the rides section of the boardwalk we found a haunted attraction! Poor Howard didn’t get a choice. We forced him to go in with us. He was a trooper though and seemed to enjoy some of it.

As we headed back to the car we noticed a small mob rising up against one guy. Of course we had to poke our nose in to see what was happening. There was some asshole standing on the corner spouting bible nonsense and condemning gay people to hell. A lot of the crowd was laughing at him but one figure was front-center and angry. It was our Golden Girls loving mage from earlier! He was shouting, swearing, and telling the asshole where he should go. He was dressed in his black robes and carrying a big staff. It was an epic standoff.

All day long I’d been looking for Lost Boy vampires. As I mentioned, I didn’t see any. In the mob however, I saw a figure who was playing over the asshole’s voice. Rather than hearing a message of hate, one man stepped up and offered music. I’m fairly certain that man was the famed sax player from Lost Boys. What do you think?

After that it was off to a very late dinner at The Progress. It’s a prix fixe menu where you get a list of options to choose 4 items from. The food was unique and impressive. The three dishes that automatically come with the meal were fresh gherkin ‘raita,’ roasted radish black sesame babaganoush, and smoked beef black garlic toasted farro. For me the beef was the winner. I didn’t much care for the babaganoush.

Choice 1 of 4: Japanese tomato & avocado salad with mendocino nori, ramari, yuzu, & shiso. Choice 2 of 4: Napa Valley Lamb Tartare with sesame tahini-spicy chili oil, bronze fennel, and potato fry bread. Choice 3 of 4: Point Reyes Toma-sauerkraut pierogi with smoked jowl bacon & black butter apple sauce. Choice 4 of 4: Apple wood smoked squab. Katie didn’t particularly like the squab having its feet still attached, but it didn’t phase Howard at all.

It’s late and time for bed. I’m really tired so I’m sure I’ve made lots of typos. To make it up to you, I present The Lost Boys sax man.