New Brighton Beach State Park is located in the seaside town of Capitola, and is a few miles away from Santa Cruz. We took a leisurely drive up the coast from Marina Dunes, and arrived at the campground in an hour - around 12:00 P.M on April 3rd. The campground is on a cliff overlooking the beach, and there is a walkway down to the beach that Mirra and I took a couple of times - too many steps for Bob.
We stayed on campsite #50, and aside from being unlevel, it was great - very spacious and private.
We took a drive to Natural Bridges State Park and walked along the waterfront in Santa Cruz. What a lovely town with incredible ocean views!
Another day we drove along route 1 to Pigeon Point Lighthouse, one of the tallest lighthouses in America. They have a hostel there that's part of the international hostel system.
This is the original Fresnel lens that was used in the lighthouse - it has 1008 prisms, and weights 2000 lbs. Today the lighthouse is still active, and uses a 24 inch aero beacon.
There were some gorgeous wildflowers bordering the hostel!
We continued on Route 1 to Half Moon Bay. The scenery is breathtakingly beautiful all along the coast.
We really enjoyed the 5 days that we were in this area. Now on to San Francisco!
