Last weekend, I visited friends in Santa Cruz, primarily to celebrate one friend reaching a milestone birthday.

It proved to be a low-key weekend – as we’d all secretly hoped – despite almost escaping from an escape room. We were thisclose to getting out. Honest! Afterwards, we decompressed with a Choose Your Own Suds-venture type of experience. I followed one peanut-butter-ish beer with a chocolate-y one; two flavors so right in a dessert… However, the jury is still out on whether they work as well when imbibed.

Let’s turn our attention from drinking to a semi-hike. (No, not with this trail.)

We managed to fit in a couple of walks, and on the first one, headed to the wharf beside the Santa Cruz Beach & Boardwalk.

The views were spectacular, despite smoky skies from local fires. In one direction:

And in the other direction, despite the sun in our eyes, everyone spotted a whale that kept surfacing every time we put our cameras down. Finally, I just pointed in the right direction, zoomed in, and clicked the button randomly. When I got home, I checked the photos.

Um… maybe?