A Photographer's Guide to Outsite Santa Cruz

Catch up with Jerry's trip through Outsite California - he's already visited San Diego and Venice, the next place on his list was Santa Cruz!

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Jerry: I flew from Los Angeles to San Jose, another smooth flight with South West Airlines. I immediately found the airports help desk and inquired about getting to Santa Cruz, the advice given to me was to catch the 10 bus to the 22 bus and the 22 bus would drop me off right in front of the main terminal where I could find the 17 highway express that would take me into Santa Cruz. The drop off point in Santa Cruz was across town from Pleasure Point, so I recommend calling an Uber the rest of the way.

When I arrived at the Pleasure Point home, I was greeted by house manager Britt, who ended up becoming more of a friend and was super helpful with a few projects!

Pleasure Point home is 2-minute walking distance from the ocean and in the opposite direction, you'll find shops and restaurants. The one I really remember was a delicious pizza spot Pleasure Pizza East Side Eatery which I had for dinner that night. My evening was relatively quiet since I spent a significant part of the day traveling, I decided to take it easy and plug in and work for the night.

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The next day, I took advantage of the ocean being so close and accompanied Séverine, another Outsite guest to watch the sunrise from the cliffs while she surfed. Sunrises in Santa Cruz are just as mesmerizing as in Encinitas and Venice, the water, however, is freezing. FREEZING. I made an arrogant decision that morning and decided I would go in with no wetsuit, to see how cold it felt on the entire body... I didn’t last long. I didn’t last more than 45 seconds.

Pro Tip, If you want to get into the ocean in Santa Cruz, bring a wetsuit it makes all the difference. After enjoying the sunrise, I needed some caffeine, so we headed over to the house got ready then walked to Verve, a trendy coffeehouse with fantastic coffee. So, no matter how early you get there, it is always steady.

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With a coffee in my life, it was time to plug away for a while, as the minutes turned into hours before I knew it, it was late in the evening, and Britt had invited Henry, Sev and myself out to the Save The Waves Coalition Film Festival.

Save The Waves Coalition is working towards protecting coastal resources through a unique combination of protected areas, Surfonomics & direct action. After a fun evening out, watching films and enjoying a few drinks, we headed back home for some much-needed rest.

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On my last full day in Santa Cruz, Sev, Henry, Britt, Arlo and I went out to Franklins for a beach day, it was a short drive just north of Pleasure Point but a beautiful location. This time around, I had a wetsuit, so I was able to play around in the ocean! The water was cold, but man that wetsuit helped.

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We spent a few hours in the ocean swimming around and taking photos. The last night there had to be one of my favorite nights at the house and out of any of the properties. Henry, Sev, Britt and myself prepared dinner together and enjoyed wine and laughs with a few of the other guests.

After a great night, it was time to rest up for my trip to San Francisco.

The next morning Britt and I hit the road to San Francisco for a quick day trip and tour of the property and some lunch, then we were off to Tahoe.

One thing to note about the property in San Francisco, much like the dinner I had experienced the night with my housemates in Santa Cruz, this group was doing that same. It is incredible the bonds you can build in a few days or after a month (The San Francisco space has a 1-month minimum stay on bookings). As the trip continued the active community continued to remain present.

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We finally arrived in Tahoe, at around 1:00 am, and my only regret is that I didn’t take a long exposure shot of the sky. The stars were beautiful, the night sky was illuminated by dancing lights and instead of staying up I went straight to bed.

The next morning I was awakened by the most colorful sunrise behind the Mountains of Lake Tahoe, what a great way to start the morning. Shortly after that Britt, Kaia and I took a ride into town for breakfast at Verde Mexican Rotisserie.

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Once we got back to the house from breakfast, I worked for a bit and met with some of the other houseguests, before our hike up the trail, right down the street from the Outsite space.

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The hike was about an hour up and an hour down, but the views it provided were stunning. Calvin, another houseguest, Chelsea and her boyfriend David, and a few friends of mine who live in Tahoe accompanied us on the hike and led us to a fantastic spot off the regular trail that had a breathtaking view. After a few photos from the top, it was time to get down because the sun was setting and we were starting to get chilly, and we had an hour walk in front of us.

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When we finally made it down, we said our goodbyes to Chelsea and David and packed it in for a night of work and rest. Outsite was providing a free sunrise yoga class, and it was my last day in California before I headed back to Austin!

Another morning another beautiful sunrise, yoga began bright and early at 6:30 am and ran until 7:30 am, the instructor was a pro and super kind, which made the class fun and engaging and not just a going through the motions type of yoga class. The instructor was also the most fantastic yogi I’d ever seen. Don’t believe me? Look at the headstand below, that's right a headstand, wild.

After a great yoga class, it was time to pack on up and get ready to go. My journey was long that day taking a shuttle from Montbleu Casino to the Reno Airport, then flying to Vegas for a bit and then finally back to Austin.

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As I said my goodbyes to Britt, Kaia and Arlo, I was ready to come home but also sad that my two weeks through California were coming to an end. I had such a wonderful time meeting so many people from all over the world.

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If follow me on @flaco_creative on my Instagram or even through this post, there is a thanking of various people from various locations around the world that I was fortunate to meet in just the California spaces alone.

That to me is the value of Outsite. It's not just about the beautiful locations you can escape to, all while effectively managing your business, working remotely or for deciding on your next big step. It's about the community you become a part of, like-minded individuals who are self-motivated, full of adventure, people who understand the value of hard work but also understand that the most valuable moments of life are those created through experiences.

I couldn’t be more thankful to the entire Outsite team for facilitating many, many things throughout this two-week journey.

Thank you.

Jerry Hernandez

@flaco_creative |  @flaco.info

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