August 26, 2005 - Renewing Old Connections

I loved Santa Cruz when I was there. I was lonely at times being so far from home but I connected with the landscape…beautiful Pacific Ocean touching giant Redwood forests. I could surf in the morning with sea lions and climb sandstone in the afternoon. If I felt motivated, I could get into my car, drive a few hours to the mountains and ski big mountains by the next morning. These things I loved.

After I left Santa Cruz and returned home to my family in New Jersey, I realized that it was actually my new family of friends that I found in California that had made the experience so wonderful. I missed them dearly and still do.

Today, Trang and I visited Santa Cruz. It was a little bit of a “reunion” for her as well since she spent four years at the University of California campus there. The water was calm, the sun was soothing, and the sea otters were relaxing. I guess today signaled the completion of my cross-country journey…I touched the Pacific. Being on Monterey Bay again brought peace to my heart.

Trang and I took a sea kayak out on the Bay. I had the goal of shooting some photos of the marine life that I love so much. There are often two or three sea otters floating in the kelp forests and I was determined to find them. We were not greeted by two or three otter. Instead, there were about a dozen! I had risked taking a pile of camera gear that took me months and months of extra night/weekend shifts to acquire into a situation where a simple bobble would have resulted in instant death for the delicate electronics. All in all, my guess would be that there was at least 15 pounds worth of Japanese-engineered gear. Too bad I pulled the biggest bone-head move possible for a photographer. I forgot to put the memory card back into the beast! I’m thankful that Trang had brought her camera. I was armed with a point-and-shoot to get the job done with a lap full of professional-level gear lying uselessly. Thanks Trang for bailing me out!

We stopped by the Santa Cruz Wharf to pick up some fried calamari and clams at Stagnaro’s, a small fish market that serves some hot food. The calamari there is the best I have had, barring none. Pricey restaurants have not been able to match the tenderness of Stagnaro’s. It is one of life’s simple, but yet decadent, pleasures for me.

Pacific Edge was one of the first indoor climbing gyms in the Country, and still one of the best. It is quite tall but not the tallest. It is a full-service gym but does not have the most cardio machines. The climbs are challenging but not the best-designed. However, most people will agree that the gym has been defined by the people who work and climb there. I have been away from Pacific Edge for a decade now and have been dropping by perhaps once a year to say hi. Tom, one of the original owners, still runs the business. He literally built the gym with his own two hands and has sacrificed much to make it a reality for all of us. Tom remembers me by name each time I visit and quickly asks me about the stage of my medical training. This may have been the last time he needed to ask…my official medical training being finished and all. Instead, he offered me his congratulations and his “invitation” to come back to California. Being three thousand miles away hasn’t kept me from considering Pacific Edge to be my “home” gym.