Back in the Cruz

I have returned to where I started. The first blog entry on Run North / Go West featured a photograph of the Monterey Bay at Santa Cruz. I took it the evening before I left on what I now call my Western States Tour 2010. I'm back again, for the third summer, working with an academic summer camp for gifted kids.

The photo above is a view from the University of California, Santa Cruz campus, overlooking Pogonip City Park. The word "Pogonip" means icy fog in Shoshone, by the way, and yes, the park is covered in fog most mornings. But that makes for a fabulous walk or run on a trail that in places consists of so many layers of redwood duff footsteps are all but unheard, and sound is muffled in mist.

I have never professed to be a desert rat, and at times in this blog I have been downright hostile toward that inhospitable environment. The Coachella Valley seems to be dominated by those who profess to love the desert, but really love the desert climate in January and February. They don't love the desert, or they wouldn't waste precious groundwater irrigating turf. What they really want is their northern surroundings (green, lush, turf, grass) in an arid, temperate setting.

One of the neighbors.

The difference I find in northern California is that the people seem to really love their place. And it is regarded as place, not just space to fill. Conservation is real in this city. Environmentalism is real. And whether or not it seems like a movement or a thing to do or a lifestyle really isn't important. It's the way so many respond to this place - with a desire to keep it the way it is.

UC Santa Cruz campus is a miracle in itself. Founded in 1965, I believe. Reagan was Governor at the time, and arranged the place in separate colleges with no traditional quad, the idea being to avoid the demonstrations that eastern campuses were experiencing. The campus is truly in a redwood forest, confusing to navigate for newcomers because everything looks the same - like trees. Actually, like tree trunks, because it's not possible to see the entire redwood. I get a pretty cool deal here: room and board, on-campus housing.

On the right is the view from my balcony the first morning that I was here. Fog moves in shortly after dark, and dissipates by noon or so. Evenings are 50s or 60s - days have been around 80. Perfection. Even with the killer schedule (8:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.) it's worth it to be here. Oh - and I teach middle-schoolers, which is a mixed bag, but generally quite interesting. More about that soon.