Victoria -> Santa Cruz

My flight to Santa Cruz was spectacular. The sun was shining and we were surrounded by the most beautiful puffy clouds …

Before I left I asked ya’ll for some new music suggestions to download for my ipod and  M83 made the cut. Surrounded by all those lovely clouds and the dreamy music of M83 in my ears I think I daydreamed during the entire trip.

It’s exactly what my creative batteries needed… a little time to think.

On one of my flights I had a flight attendant who I’ve flown with 3-4 other times.

I’m terrible with names (his name is Heath – I checked his name tag) but never forget a face and he’s someone you can’t forget. You can tell he’s a career flight attendant who LOVES his job. He engages with all the passengers and is always so lovely.

Going through customs was a breeze. I think the agent had a crush on me or something cause all he wanted to do was talk about my tattoos and flirt. *laugh* I sat around the Seattle airport for a while waiting for my connection and ate my lunch (veggie stir-fry).

Bored in Seattle with no internet connection I started to wander around the airport. To kill time I decided to check on my flight and noticed that the gate # on my ticket was different. Not only that it was in a totally different terminal. YIKES! Seattle has a great subway system that takes you from terminal to terminal so I arrived at my gate JUST in time for the final boarding call. Phew!

*note to self* – Always check the gate/terminal number to make sure it’s the same as on your ticket.

I arrived in Santa Cruz and was picked up by Michael who I met 8+ years ago the last time I was in Santa Cruz (check out page 16 of LDV to see his photo). He gave me a ride to my hotel … and what a hotel! Yikes. So dumpy.

The sheets smelled like chlorine and were supers scratchy and the whole place looked like it needed some attention. BUT … on the plus side it had a GIANT 5 foot long bathtub (I could lay in it end to end) it was dead quiet (probably because nobody was staying there) so I slept like a log … and I survived the scratchy sheets.  🙂

I was too pooped to wander around and look for a place to eat that night so I popped into Whole Foods and had boxed salad dinner and some yummy veggie dip in my hotel room.

The next day I had a few hours to kill before my event at Bookshop Santa Cruz so I wandered around downtown. Went to some antique shops, etc etc and ended up at The Saturn Cafe for lunch.

The last time I was in Santa Cruz I went there for dinner and couldn’t wait to go back. I wish we had this kind of restaurant in Victoria. Fun, casual, with really delish food. Hmmmm… maybe it’s time for me to open a restaurant.  🙂

Yummy Pumpkin Soup, salad and fries. I was STUFFED!

I went home, had a nap (to prepare for my event – gotta be fresh) and then tried to go to Malabar cafe for dinner. It had been recommended to me by a few people but the menu was weird and nothing to indicate what was vegan and what wasn’t. They told me they could make anything vegan but then when I started pointing at different items on the menu it was “egg” this and “egg” that. The waiter and the menu were to ambiguous and the last thing I needed was to eat something ambiguous before an event so I bailed and went to a Sushi place across from Bookshop and had a mediocre meal. All and all it was a depressing dinner … but my spirits were lifted as I walked into Bookshop.

Big thanks to George and all the staff at Bookshop for such a fun evening and for making food for everyone to eat. I spoke about the genesis of HIAV and how things have changed in the vegan community 10 year later. The crowd in Santa Cruz is always so loving and supportive and it was a real treat for me to come back 8 years later and see so many familiar faces and meet some new ones as well.

I hit the hay as soon as the event was over because I had an early flight to LA! Woot! City of Angels here I come!