A Visit To S.C. Tikis

Loaded up with beer and snacks, my brother Chris & I embarked for Santa Cruz in his Tacoma truck late Thursday. We made it there about 7 hours later, a little lighter with the truck bed full of empties, and a bit worn out from the drive.

Saturday morning we headed over to Will’s (SCTikiShack’s) place. Will was just back from his morning surf ritual, and he showed us some of the in-progress carvings in his backyard. On the left is a huge hand truck that he uses to move the BIG logs.

We headed out to grab some coffee & Will gave us a local tour, including some of his tikis and some really beautiful Victorian homes along the way. Here’s Will on the left & me on the right at the local Trader Joe’s. His Trader Joe’s logo tiki is in the middle.

After picking up some rum for the shave ice booth, we headed back to Will’s & loaded up the Tacoma with redwood logs from Will’s private stash. We pretty much maxed out the ¾ ton capacity of the truck. Er… yeah. These will keep me busy for a while.

After that we headed over to the Aloha Grill for an early lunch. Chongolio met us there & we all chowed down on some great Hawaiian style food. If ever in S.C., be sure to stop by this place. The food was so good.

Here’s one of Will’s tikis in the corner of the restaurant. He also has a signature tiki illustration on the menu.

Will’s father-in-law Dan was manning the shave ice booth outside the Aloha Grill. It was a warm day with lots of customers. I got one of his “VIP” shave ices, with a little bit of a kick. By the time we hit Salinas I was feeling no pain!

Chongolio led us out of town toward the interstate South. On the way, we saw Will’s Jay Moriarty Memorial Tiki. This was a passing shot from the truck, and really does not do this tiki justice. On the left (not shown) are some cliffs with stairs leading down to the beach. There were lots of surfers out that day.

Here’s a parting shot of Santa Cruz coastline from the truck as we headed out. Just another beautiful day in S.C.!

We had a great trip, though brief, and really enjoyed our short time visiting with Will, his family, and Chongolio. Will, thanks a bunch – I owe you one fo sho, bro!

**Cheers!

A-A**

"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

[ Edited by: Aaron's Akua on 2005-05-16 13:10 ]

I've been to that Trader Joe's! :)

There's nothin' sweeter than the sight of that bed filled up with logs. Sweeeeeet.
Will needs to find me a place to live there.
Thanks AA for sharing.
Living the life and loving it.

aaron...You forgot to drop one off for me on your way home!

Nice pictures - sounds like it was fun, and looks as though you have a couple more projects on your hands!

Very cool . Some pretty amazing carvings there.

Now get to carving.
Thanks for sharing..

Thanks for sharing AA. Looks like you had a long but very rewarding trip. I can't wait to see what becomes of those logs!! Will's tiki's look great!!!

[ Edited by: The Sperm Whale on 2005-05-16 17:49 ]

A2
good to hear you got home safe, sound and with a little shave ice down the front of shirt too i bet.
Cool to hook up with you and meet your Bro. Glad you got to visit when the sun was beaming and the town was alive. Next time it will have to be longer. Have fun with all them loggies.

Chongolio

P.S next time I pickup lunch!! Thanks again.

Thanks for the documentary Aaron, looks like you had fun. Must be nice to hop in the truck and drive down to the local tiki carvers, pick up a few logs, a few pointers and see some dynamite tikis and then have a shaved ice to boot. Then go home and carve on those beautiful redwood logs. Must be Nice...

A.A.,

It was a blast having you here and showing a little bit of my town to you. Thank you for making a little story of our meeting. Next time you will have to bring up the family.

Surfin Tiki,

Unfortunately S.C. was voted the most unaffordable place to live in America. I guess the jobs here don't add up to the housing prices. If you have 900k to spare, I can find you a nice house. If I didn't buy mine 3 years ago, I don't think that I would be able to afford to live here. However, S.C. is a Mecca for surfing and mountain biking, Heaven on earth for me. The redwood forests aren't to shappy either.

Polyseniac,

Next time I go down to visit my sister, I'll bring you a log. It might not be too huge since I will have to put it in my car. Maybe we can surf down there. Usually ,I have to go out myself while visiting my sister. I grew up surfing Indicators so it is always a joy visiting my old stomping grounds.

Everyone else,

Thank you, it is amazing how the tiki industry seems to create mellow, upbeat and hip people.

Will

Yeah Will, unfortuneatly all of coastal Cali is too high priced...but DANG, I keep moving Florida to Cape Cod, over and over an over again...when Calee-Forn-ya is all I need! Water Temp here is slowly climbing out of the low 40's...Oregon's water temp is better than that! Actually going to Oregon in the fall to check it out, might actually move there. Girlfriend LOVES Oregon. I love Cali. Good weather, surf, mtn biking, hiking, snowboarding, TIKI!! Any whitewater kayaking in central California? Need that too. Ya-know, I'm lookin for my heaven on earth! Yup, the only thing is the money issue.
I think i need to start a new thread with all my rambling.
It should be about the kinetic connection between tiki carving and surfing! How 'bout a Tiki surf crawl!

Surfintiki,

A surf / tiki crawl sound killer to me. Oregon is killer, good waves, MtBiking etc. However the water is quite cold and the locals can be kind of aggro. Morro Bay in Central California is still a goldmine. (You can still find houses there for under 500k) As for whitewater kayaking, the Sierras have all you can handle. Last time I went down the Tualome on a river raft there was some nutballs going down class 5 rapids on their kayacks. Have an excellent week, I hope the ocean warms up for you.

Will
P.S. the waves are going to be pumping here tomorrow.

You da man Will. We'll have to do the Surf tiki crawl in the future, I'm psyched for that. In the mean time enjoy Steamer Lane without me.