Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk!!
Yet another of the assets of our little town
(population a little over 50,000) is the Boardwalk, named after the American word for a
promenade along the inland part of a beach. The walkway used to be made out of wooden
planks: hence Boardwalk. Ours is along the sea front from
West Cliff.
The Boardwalk is an old-fashioned amusement park,
complete with a big wooden roller coaster that makes the best roaring grinding noise in the world
when you're riding it!
It celebrated its centenary in 2007. In this part of the world, that is quite
a milestone, with the town of Santa Cruz itself
incorporated in 1866 (although the mission itself was dedicated in 1794).
The Boardwalk's logo is at the foot of this first photo. It is the number one
tourist attraction in Santa Cruz County. We're not tourists here, but we still
go regularly, particularly Alex and Charles.
Our friends the
Bouchardy-Rabinovicis visited the Boardwalk
with Daphné in the summer of 2000. By the way, Faby et Jean are not hysterical by any means, and neither
are their two older daughters Fiona and Maeve: it's the effect of the Boardwalk! (Needless to say,
neither is Daphné, except what we attribute to her
then
pre-adolescence. . . . !)
The next photo on the left is an interesting shot of
the Boardwalk taken from a rarely seen angle, across the San Lorenzo River and
the beach. This wintry scene, with clouds and what looks like the aftermath of a
bit of a storm on the beach, was caught by Ian's
friend Fergus in December 2004.
Below is the Log Ride, where the action is. Taken by the Boardwalk in the
summer of 2005, this photo show the range of emotions a good water ride can
provoke. Alban, the teenager, on top of the world and yelling it out, Maeve, the
visitor, hiding behind papa, papa a little keyed up and holding on to Charlie
for dear life, and Charlie thrilled to bits. We did need to do a little
doctoring here, to remove a regrettable gesture . . . . Boys will be boys!
There's another photo of this ride here, and in that one we needed to doctor
Charlie making the same gesture. Who says children learn from their parents.
When they learn what they chose, it is from their older siblings!
Here are a couple more rides featuring Alex and Charles during a daytime
visit during the summer of 2004.
The first features a ride called the Whirlwind, which goes up and down as
well as around. You can see the ocean behind the ride, and you glimpse it whipping past
you as you whirl.
The second is a more normal roundabout, where they could sit down.
Alex was,
logically enough, more at ease.
The best Boardwalk photos that we have taken have been of the Log Ride, the
ride that the boys are howling on in the photo above. The "logs" fall towards the spectators, and splash right next to them.
So we have a nice pair of photos of Jean and two his daughters on
their page, as well as the pair below of
Charlie, Alban, Maeve and
Ian, all taken during the summer of 2005. Perhaps the
expressions and focus on the second are less than ideal, but the feeling is spot
on!
Although the visits of our teenagers to the Boardwalk have become rarer as
their interests become broader and they become more mobile, they continue to
visit from time to time. Nick or Daphné or both will take
Charles and Alex for an evening out: the log ride photo above right was taken
during such a day trip. And they still go with friends at times. Below is one of
Daphné and
Alban during the summer of 2003, while the latter was still suffering the
requisite orthodontal braces.
But when all is said and done, the best rides
are at the Disneylands of this world, a favorite
vacation place for this family. We also enjoyed
Thorpe Park in the UK, and here is a great photo
of Daphné and her mother
on a water ride there.
