We spent this morning and afternoon wandering around Capitola, mostly following the route of the South Bay Striders‘ Secret Paths and Stairways 5K walk. The route had to be modified after the floods in January, which washed out the Wharf and made some of the stairways impassable, like this one.

There were plans to rework the Wharf before the storms; they’re more urgent now.

The route started with a walk along Cliff Drive, giving us a nice view of the railroad trestle and Soquel Creek.

We wandered down the Esplanade and along the beach before climbing the stairs to Depot Hill for a panoramic view of the city.

We walked on the Grand Avenue walking path atop the cliffs until it ended, then it was back into the street grid until we reached the turnaround point of the walk.

We even got some free advice, which was somewhat useful as a reminder to drink the water I was carrying.

It was mostly downhill from there, taking us along Soquel Creek and under the railroad trestle.

We had lunch at the Capitola Bar and Grill, which had a nice view of the beach; dessert was at Polar Bear Ice Cream, which had a nice view of the Capitola Bar and Grill.

And then we finished the walk and drove back to the hotel to rest up and have dinner; we’re seeing King Lear tonight back at DeLaveaga Park, and it’s going to be quite late by the time we get home.

We saw Santa Cruz Shakespeare‘s production of The Taming of the Shrew tonight at their theatre in the Grove at DeLaveaga Park. It was our first show at Santa Cruz Shakespeare, and the first time I’d seen Taming (I’ve never seen Kiss Me Kate, either).

I enjoyed the play, despite its extremely problematical moments (I overheard a couple of patrons discussing “gaslighting” as we were leaving). Kate’s transformation seemed awfully quick; I don’t know if that’s due to the director’s choice in cutting the play to fit in two hours or if it’s like that in the original text.

I probably should say something about the setting (it’s very nice) but it’s late and I’m tired!