Vacation: Santa Cruz
Visiting Maria’s brother Joseph. Easy flight. No problems in San Fran airport. I hope that the monorail in JFK will eventually be as convenient as the one in SF. The inbound trains have a female voice, the outbound have a male one. The voices are pleasant but the repetition of “hold on” and “lock your luggage brake” is annoying.
Picked up the rental car- a Dodge neon- and drove to Santa Cruz last night. Nothing about the car is inspiring. I wish the rental companies had Volkswagens. I shouldn’t have to upgrade to a sports car to get decent handling. It fits the bill for basic transportation.
The way to Santa Cruz takes you through a great mountain road. Joseph pointed out that the commute can be hell. Got a taste of that today and Joseph took us on the side roads to skirt the mess. I’ve noticed that a lot of locals ride their breaks and accelerate erratically on the curves and panic swerve when they hit the botts dots (which are some of the highest I’ve ever seen). I guess bad driving isn’t limited to the Northeast.