08.03.08
uc tour 2008
what started out as me doing the san francisco marathon ended up being a tour of the northern califiornia’s universities. after i survived the LA marathon, i thought “why not san fran” but after signing up i realized i didnt want to do five hour training walks in the summer heat, so i decided on doing the half instead.
at first i was going to do the trip alone but i ended up taking two oldest sons. we took the coast route up and it was beautiful. saw lovely coastlines, surfers sailing with kites and enjoyed the cool fresh air.
after eating in santa cruz, i decided to visit uc santa cruz. i havent been there since i was in college. my sophomore year, the all uc meet was in santa cruz.
i went to uc san diego, so we got to fly to the meet. sadly, i had never flown in a plane so all summer i trained hard to win my seat to the meet. i remember having to take a physics mid-term and then jumping into a van and barely getting to the airport on time.
my first flight was uneventful and the takeoff and landings just felt like a cheesy carnival ride for the most part. it was nice getting to san jose in so quickly though.
i barely remember the race except that it was hilly and there were a lot trees. the best part of the trip was getting to hang out at stanford with my old high school friends and going to a stanford football game.
now 20 plus years later, i am touring uc santa cruz with my teenage sons. the campus sits on a hill with a nice forest of trees. the campus is in the forest. it looked like a nice place to go despite their banana slug mascot.
then my mind changed forever. to leave campus, one must go down a very steep and long hill. wouldnt you know but santa cruz’s finest sits on the bottom of the hill.
i had my foot on the brake the whole way and i have never received a speeding ticket in my life. but they got me, i dont think i was speeding but they say i was. heck, they could have stopped everyone that goes down that road. when i left they had three of us.
because of this, i can guarantee that no kid of mine will ever go to uc santa cruz and i will never recommend the place either . the place is a total speed trap and to be posted there on an orientation day to nab guests of the university is BS.
they could of given me a stern warning or not lied on the ticket that i was going 47 which is bogus. the officer didnt even have a speed gun on him and all i know is i was riding my foot on the brake the whole way.
the roadway wasnt in a residential area and didnt have any cross streets until you cam up to the cops at the bottom of the hill. one could see them sitting at the bottom of the hill from a quarter of a mile away. you came around a bend there they were.
i would love to fight it but i am sure i would have to come all the way back to santa cruz. which they and i know, i probably wont do.
what i will do is tell everyone this story and never recommend uc santa cruz.
after we left santa cruz, we headed to the marathon expo on the pier. i was lucky as usual and was able to park right in front of the place. the expo was your usual expo and i didnt stay long. instead we found our hotel and then headed to oakland.
in all my trips to the baya area, i havent been to oaktown and dint realize it was as far away as it was. it seemed to take us a half hour to get to berkeley. we got lucky and found a good parking space despite the throngs that were descending on cal for the john mellancamp concert.
we walk all around the campus and were impressed by the huge stone buildings with the field of study carved into the facade. one building said “BOTANY” another “PSYCHOLOGY”, the campus had an ivy league feel to me. berkeley felt like new york city with international flair and the intensity of the place. both my sons and i like the school but i think it would be hard to go there myself. but then getting in cal is pretty hard itself.
after our oaktown excursion we were all ready to go to the hotel and go to sleep.
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