A Breath of Fresh Air

I have finally accomplished on getting out of town, and going on an adventure. This time to Santa Cruz, Ca. I was happy to receive a text from my friend Serena, asking me if I'd like to tag along on a trip to the Mystery Spot, and the Beach Boardwalk. So on Saturday, about 11am, Serena, Jake, Sage, and I was off to have fun under the sun.

So we started off by attempting to find the Mystery Spot, which just trying to find it, became a mystery. We spent some time lost on random roads, but I really enjoyed it because I go to see a lot of amazing scenery. After arriving to the Mystery Spot, we found out that we had an hour wait before our group was going to going to be able to take the trip, so we decided to go for a hike into the mountains across the parking lot.

Sage seemed motivated to find a banana slug, something I have never heard of before. She mentioned that if we was to find one, that you can lick it, and your tongue will become numb. Less then 5 minutes into the trip, we happened to find one. She was quick to pick it up, and Serena and Sage had no hesitation to lick it. I was kind of in shock to see them do it, but at the same time amazed that they simply didn't care that it was a giant ugly snail, on the side of a mountain. Jake and I refused to attempt to lick it, and began on our hike.

As soon as we started walking off, Serena and Sage was talking about how their tongue was numb from licking the snail. I decided that if we was to come across another, that I would have to try it. As soon as I said something, we happened to find another one. I kind of regretted what I just said, but decided "Hey, what the hell." I can honestly say I never licked a slug before, but there is a first time for everything, right? It was awkward, but unfortunately, my tongue didn't go numb. After attempted twice, Sage and I decided to put the Banana Slugs onto our face, and take pictures.

So we continued our hike, and got to see pretty nice scenery. It was much needed exercise for me personally, and I got to enjoy the outdoors, which I have been wanting to do for some time now. After about half an hour or so, we went back to the bottom of the hill to wait for our turn at the Mystery Spot. I have always seen the bumper stickers on peoples car about the Mystery Spot, but I have never heard anyone talk about it. So I was excited to see what this was all about.

The Mystery Spot is a place that breaks the laws of physics as we know it. They start by telling us that compasses seem to not work properly when you are within this 'circle' of an area that claims to have some sort of magnetic phenomena. They show you objects that look impossible to be even, then prove to you that it is. They had a piece of wood that they angled from a window of the cabin, and showed that the leveler proves that it is completely straight even though one side looks to be higher. Then to top it off, she takes a ball and puts it in the middle of the board, and it rolls off the end that looks higher. She even used random objects from the crowd, including water, and someones chap stick. Each time, the object would roll off the 'higher' end. Then you get to explore the cabin shown in the photo, and just have fun with physics. We all seemed to really enjoy the Mystery Spot. Then from there, we was off to the Boardwalk. *This picture of the cabin was not taking by us.

We showed up to the Boardwalk, but we didn't have too much sun left. We decided to spend some of the sun we had left, on the beach, and then make our way to the rides after. Well little did we know, the rides closed at dark even though the whole place was lit up. I, personally, am not a fan of rides, but Serena and Sage seemed to be looking forward to them, so that kind of sucked. They managed to get on one ride before it closed, but after that there wasn't anything else open. We still had fun hanging out at the beach, and just being out of town.

We ended the night with dinner at the end of the pier at a place named "The Dolphin." It was a pretty small restaurant, but the food was good. Then from there, we was on our way back home. I had a lot of fun with good company. There was nothing but laughs, and finally a chance to be around a lot of positivity. It meant a lot to me to be able to get out, and not feel stressed at all. The whole group is pretty funny, and never seem to come off negative. I like forward to hopefully going on more adventures with them.

-J