Sunny Cove Blow Hole - Santa Cruz, CA

The recent storm and huge surf created a Blow Hole at Sunny Cove in someone's driveway last week. It was quite the scene at this multi-million dollar home in Santa Cruz, CA.
I also drove by the some of the other beaches on the Eastside that were pretty washed out.The ocean will always win if you build it this close to the ocean (and on top of a giant cave in this case).

Bridge School Concert Beginner's Guide

Neil Young Performing "Heart of Gold"

While it has taken me awhile to get a blog post up these days, I definitely wanted to share thoughts on my first Bridge School Concert from a newbie's perspective. After many years of SXSW and ACL, I was looking forward to the cooler weather, and returning to the place where I caught my first concert back in the 90's for Kamp KOME. Here are my takeaways:

• If you are on the lawn, get there early, and try to sit in front of a projector screen. Will make it easier to find your spot later in the dark, and nice for watching the show. Bring a larger blanket so that you have room to layout during the show.
• The line takes foreeevvver to get in. I would have gladly paid the get in VIP line for the small fee they charge. I think it was like $5, well worth skipping a long line.
• You can bring in water, but they take the caps (not sure why). You can also bring in any food you want. Seems very easy to sneak booze in, from a flask in a pocket, to beers and wine hidden under false bottoms, to hollowing out bread and putting a bottle of vodka in it, you should have no problem sneaking booze in. Can also put it in a blanket or jacket that you are holding, seems like at concerts they almost never check anything other than your bags.
• If you don't bring booze, prepare to pay. We didn't, and the $16 beers and $48 bottles of wine hurt. Also having to get up and navigate through the maze of people downhill and uphill gets tedious. Much better to bring your own in this case with your food. Side note, they have security patrolling the crowd in the daylight hours, so it needs to be kept on the lowdown or wait until dark to keep the booze out. Saw a bunch of people get their booze taken.
• If you are on the lawn, go to the far bathrooms, not the center ones by the concession stand. Smaller line as most don't realize that they are there.
• Bring a flag, glowstick, or something to find your blanket/chair on the lawn for once it gets dark... especially after a couple of beers it can be crazy trying to find your spot. It isn't as bad as the chair maze you have to navigate at ACL, but definitely a challenge to not step on anyone's blanket and make your way back to your marked off space.
• It gets cold on the lawn.. not sure about the seats, but bring lots of blankets and warm clothes. Other than Jack Johnson, I was most likely the only person wearing sandals and shorts. I was pretty much frozen by the end of the night. Bring lots of layers and extra blankets (or tequila).
• There were too many bands and breaks in between sets. I would have been happier with less bands and longer sets. Was amazing to see Neil Young perform "Heart of Gold" and "Harvest Moon", Jack Johnson, Arcade Fire, MMJ, and Fun. also put on a good show.
• Overall it was a great show, that went very late, with lots of breaks. Can't beat the music you get for your buck on this one all for a great cause. We will for sure will be heading back to a future year at Shoreline.
• Here are some videos I captured to remember the evening, nothing fancy, just memories for me :).