Santa Cruz – 5th – 7th September 2017

Hola from California

We flew from Dublin to London, had a few hours sleep, got up at 5.40am, and travelled for about 20 hours…We flew from Heathrow to Zurich, Zurich to San Francisco and then the legend of the year, Liz, picked us up from San Fran airport and drove us all the way back to her place in Santa Cruz…Superstar.

A few drinks and some food and we crashed, woke up, battled jet lag, crashed again and finally surfaced about 9am Cali time.

We had an enjoyable day with Liz and caught up on what had been going on in the two years since we had seen each other. We first met Liz and her friend Christy in 2015 when we walked the first 4 days of The Camino. We walked with these guys for a few days and we were friends for life. Later in 2015 we stayed with both women and their families and the generosity and warmth that they showed us was overwhelming…and nothing has changed.

From the moment that Liz picked us up and started doing impersonations of the Aussie accent (absolutely brilliant by the way…if she was trying to do Austin Powers) we were instantly connected again. J

We spent the day chilling, went for a drive around the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, saw the late Jack O’Neill’s pad at Pleasure Point and bought some boutique balsamic vinegar and olive oils at some funkadelic shop. We had bought Liz and Joe a bottle of Tanqueray Gin duty free to say thanks for having us and that afternoon we tucked in to G & T’s with lime, cucumber and black pepper – so refreshing in the Californian summer. Joe, the legend, came home from work and bought not only a case of the family Zinfandel but also a pound of freshly cut prosciutto…OH MY GOD!! This was even better than the ham that we’d had in both Italy and Spain…the best we’ve ever had. We wrapped it around rock melon and jet lag was a distant memory as our taste buds danced.

Liz had invited the family around for dinner and it was so good to see her mum and dad; Gloria and my mate Louis, daughter Celeste and her fiancé Gavin, and sister in law De Ann and her hubby Rump (Dennis). Great characters, all of them!! We barbequed marinated tri-tip (like our rump steak), De Ann cooked her mum’s famous pasta and we had tomatoes from Liz’s garden in Burrata cheese and basil. This was all washed down with Coors and Zin…man what a feast, what a family, what a way to be to feel welcome!! Unfortunately Christy and Dan were in Hawaii and we couldn’t meet up with those guys but the night was a blast anyway.

The next morning we trekked over to Joe’s mum’s house to see the family cellar with Zin and prosciutto…unreal, before Liz the legend drove us all the way back to San Francisco.

She is such a generous woman and the hospitality that her entire family showed to these two Aussies is incomparable. I only hope that we can return the favour one day.

So here we are in San Fran. Batteries recharged, and ready to do our final leg before we head home.

Ciao for now Bellas!!

P.S. I didn’t even see one vampire or the Frog Brothers…

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