Atop one of the Adobe building towers is a public art piece called the Semaphore. The four slotted circles rotate every few seconds and are actually transmitting a code. The puzzle is for interested code breakers to crack the code. It is currently displaying the third code since going up in 2006. The first two have been cracked and now the third is up since 2023.
Referred to as “Four Corners” in Woodside, California in the Santa Cruz Mountains, you can get food and refreshments and enjoy rolling art. This is the place where motorcyclists and sports cars like to stop while enjoying weekend rides through the mountains. And, you can see some other creative art here, too.
You can still ride steam engines in the Santa Cruz Mountains and explore the redwoods at Roaring Camp. You can walk around the shops at the train depot and then enjoy the beauty of the nature around you as you travel through the woods.
There is something about train rides like these that are pretty exciting.
And you can experience the ride of an all wheel drive steam train engine designed to cary loads through steep terrain.
The oldest running amusement park in California, is the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. In operation since 1907. It’s also a nice enjoyable place to hang around, especially with kids. There are free concerts and movies on the beach during summer, rides and games and food, and a neat feeling to walk around enjoying the ambiance. I like that you don’t need to pay to get in the park and walk around. You pay for rides and food and games, though you don’t pay to just walk around and enjoy the ambiance.
This carousel, older than the park itself and added to the Board Walk in 1911, is one of the rare carousels still operating that has a brass ring dispenser and target. Riders get to grab a ring as they go around and then throw it at the clown face, attempting to get the ring into the mouth as they go around. The ride then also becomes a game for those sitting on the outside horses.
That excellent wooden roller coaster in the background is the Giant Dipper. It will be 101 years old this year. It is the oldest operating roller coaster in California and one of the oldest in the world. It’s what you see to know you are almost at the Board Walk when walking or driving in.
