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Our Community Reads in 2019

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Friends of the Aptos Library / Our Community Reads
Friends of the Aptos Library is again sponsoring “Our Community Reads” in 2019. In its second year, the goal is to bring the community together around issues concerning our residents and to foster ways to engage people in a thought-provoking manner.

A book is chosen by a committee and recommended as a community read. Last year’s themes were based around the book “Born a Crime”, by Trevor Noah which highlighted the issues of racism and “otherness” as they affect members of society. This year’s book choice, “The Death & Life of Monterey Bay: A Story of Revival” focuses on the tumultuous story from the bay’s disastrous past of over-fishing and pollution to becoming the most prized natural resource it is today.

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The Friends of the Aptos Library offers a vast array of events to the public to bring these themes to light and allows people to gather together for discussion and community engagement. This year’s offerings consist of 3 films (each presented by an expert in a field relating to the film’s topic) several speakers, a panel discussion, a conversation with the book’s two authors, a poetry slam/art event hosted by Aptos High & Delta School, and some outings to explore the Elkhorn Slough. All but two of these events are free, and all are open to the public.

Not only do we project that readers will learn a great deal about the Monterey Bay through this extensive program and gain an appreciation for the bay’s turbulent past, but participants will gain access to what they can do to secure the healthy future of our most precious natural resource.

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A major goal of Our Community Reads is to foster awareness, highlight literacy, and create a passion for engagement and activism. We believe that a well-informed and involved community is a healthy one!

To reach underserved communities, the Friends of the Aptos Library, through a California Humanities grant, will be purchasing Spanish-language educational materials relating to the ocean and conservation and environmental issues. They will be donated to the county library Book Mobile and taken along with volunteers who can facilitate learning to these grade school aged children.

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Aptos Village December 2018 Update

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Aptos Village is Shaping Up!

The folks behind the Aptos Village have sent out an end-of-year announcement of progress of the development.  Here’s the news they want to share, sent via email on December 26th 2018:

We’ve come to the end of a productive year, and Phase One of Aptos Village is closer than ever to completion.

TOWNHOMES & CONDOS 
Townhome sales on Granite Way are ramping up, while the Building 11 cluster homes are taking shape inside and out. Each cluster home’s stylish modern kitchen is under construction now and, with the addition of smaller finishes throughout, Building 11 will be ready in no time.

The Building 3 condos overlooking the Village Green are on track for a February completion date, and the Building 7 condos at the corner of Aptos Village Way and Parade Street are virtually complete.

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RETAIL INTERIORS
As for retail, interior improvements in every building are moving right along, with the Village’s hotly anticipated stores, eateries and other businesses projected to open in Spring 2019. Building 3 storefronts at the Village Green should be finished in early January. Work continues inside Building 7’s space, with Buildings 6A and 6B not far behind. And although there is still a ways to go inside the Apple Barn, it won’t be long before the equipment goes out and the groceries go in.

The Aptos Village team wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday season!

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TheAptosVillage.com is the place to go for the latest on the project, as well as how to contact the Residential and Commercial Sales and Leasing teams. Commercial inquiries can be directed to Joe Appenrodt at 831-234-8554 or joe@appenrodtcommercial.com. Learn more about coming home to Aptos Village here.

General project information, newsletters, FAQ sheets and updates can be accessed through the “Project News” tab located at the upper right.

Click here for Aptos Village area homes for sale.

Candy Cane Lane in Pacific Grove

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Each year in the month of December, a neighborhood in Pacific Grove transforms itself into Candy Cane Lane.  Dozens of homes around Platt Park (on Morse Drive) transform into an incredible show of the Yuletide spirit, with all manner of lights and decorations.  Don’t miss our exclusive video below, provided for your viewing pleasure.

This annual holiday tradition has been going on since the 1950s, and it’s a completely volunteer effort. The city of Pacific Grove pays for the electricity for the lights in Platt Park, but all other expenses are born by the neighbors. There’s no fee to park or walk through the neighborhood to take in the spectacle. It is truly a gift of love for the holidays from the neighbors to the community.

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A few days ago, we drove around Aptos (and Capitola/Soquel) looking at Christmas lights, and we saw some magnificent displays. But nothing we have in Santa Cruz county can compare with the mind-boggling display you’ll find just an hour or so south in Pacific Grove on Candy Cane Lane.

If you go, I recommend that you bring warm clothes and maybe some hot cocoa to share. Walking slowly through the neighborhood should take about an hour. There are plenty of restaurants and cafes nearby to grab dinner at before or after visiting Candy Cane Lane. It’s a great holiday tradition to share with the kids, so be sure not to miss it while they still believe in the magic of Santa.

Candy Cane Lane Video

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Christmas Lights of Aptos (and Beyond)

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This House Takes the Prize

Last night, after grabbing a quick bite at Burger and some hot chocolate from Starbucks, our family decided to hit the road and explore. We were looking for the best Christmas Lights of Aptos (and Beyond), and we discovered plenty of eye-popping and heart-warming displays throughout 95003.  You’ll find a slideshow with dozens of the best homes we found below.

If you’re on NextDoor, check the app (and I assume web site too!) for their “Holiday Cheer” map. It will show you where users have said that homes are festooned with holiday lights, and it will be a good guide for finding such homes in Aptos and elsewhere.

We didn’t actually end up using the NextDoor holiday cheer map much – my wife checked her iPhone and saw on Facebook where people recommended that you go to see some awesome Christmas lights. We ended up spending about 90 minutes driving around, through Seacliff, Rio del Mar, Mar Vista, Capitola, and Soquel, listening to Christmas music on the radio and sipping the hot cocoa.

Amazingly enough, the kids spent the time happily, with lots of “oohs” and “ahhs” and nary a mention of wanting to play XBox or jump on the iPad. And the best part is, when we finally rolled into our driveway, one of the boys had already fallen asleep and the other was well on his way. Visions of sugar plums, I’m sure, were dancing in their heads.

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Aptos Christmas Lights Slideshow

Halloween at the Santa Cruz KOA

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If you know anything about Santa Cruz County’s reputation, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Halloween is a big deal here.  Every Halloween evening in downtown Santa Cruz, there’s a massive street party attended by many thousands of people in costume.  The police are out in force to make sure everyone stays safe amid the chaos.  While some children do go downtown for the festivities, many parents are wary of bringing their kids, especially those of single-digit ages, into that madhouse.

So what is a fun-loving family to do in Santa Cruz county for Halloween?  It turns out, there’s a raging party down by the southern end of the county at the Santa Cruz Monterey KOA.

KOAs are known as squeaky-clean family campgrounds, a Disney-fied camping experience that’s cleaner, better-run and with much superior amenities compared to anything you’d find in a public campground.  So imagine my surprise when I learned that at our amazing KOA they host a Halloween party that is absolutely off the hook.

Each year, for the last three weekends of October, the Santa Cruz Monterey KOA hosts what they call the “Halloween Spooktacular.”  For 2018, the weekends are October 12-14, October 19-21, and October 26-28.  Of course, you’re probably already too late to get a spot for any of these weekends; I understand that they are generally booked up a year in advance – but they could have a cancelation, so it’s worth your time to inquire.

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So what’s this “Spooktacular” all about?  They have a bunch of activities during the day, like a pumpkin carving contest, the spooky train, site decorating contest, Halloween ceramic painting, the KOA Ice Cream Bike, and new this year, the “Haunted Trail” in the evening.  So there’s plenty of activities to keep everyone occupied until the witching hour, which starts at 6:30 PM.

That’s when the real fun begins.  The whole campground turns into a massive trick-or-treat extravaganza, with most cabin and RV sites hosting visitors, sharing candy for the kids and cocktails for the adults.  Many of the sites are decorated very creatively in splendid Halloween adornments, which make great conversation starters with the site tenants and fellow revelers.

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Later in the night, a roving dance party makes its way through the campground, with sound, lights, and dozens (hundreds?) of people bouncing around, with every color and configuration of lights flashing and swaying to the beat.

It’s an amazing thing to experience – a great time for children of all ages (even those who’ve been in their double digits for decades).  If you’re able to grab a spot and you’re looking to have fun this Halloween, you need to look into spending one of the last three weekends in October at the Santa Cruz / Monterey KOA.

Video from Santa Cruz / Monterey KOA Halloween Spooktacular

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46ZuOYB-I7c&feature=youtu.be

Photo Gallery for Halloween at the Santa Cruz KOA

A Parable: When a Cheerleader Turns Quarterback

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This parable has been provided by an anonymous author who requested it be posted for community discussion.

There once was a Cheerleader. She was nice, outgoing, and a snake charmer to her community. People just adored her. She enters her Senior year and learns there’s a football scholarship up for grabs so she joins the team as the Quarterback. The coach said, she’s been at every single game for the last three years as a Cheerleader, everyone loves her, the team will thrive on her energy.

The whole first quarter, everyone was having a great time. Players were everywhere and trying new plays. By the second quarter, they scored 0 points and their scores continue to gap away. The players asked her for a plan going into half-time. She came back to third quarter with signs and banners. By fourth quarter, not only were their score the fastest losing game ever but players were getting pulled out of the game for serious injuries.

So the community loved this Cheerleader because she was nice and learned every player’s birthday. And from what they saw, she gave the best school rallies. But most folks didn’t see the game or had their child as a player; but they only heard about her great energy and spirit even as a Quarterback. Of course, they all saw the great banners everywhere.

Now the game is over, players are dealing with serious injuries from her lack of competence on the field and causing them to get hurt. Now the game is over, the team was dropped to the bottom of the regional line up based on their games scores. Now the game is over, the stadium seats were left empty from folks who did watch the game and probably don’t want to buy another ticket again.

So how can this happen? How can a Cheerleader be put in a Quarterback position? Do you blame the Coach for putting her in? Do you blame the league for allowing it? Do you blame the players for playing with her? Do you blame the audience for watching the whole game unfold? But more importantly, who’s responsible for the injured players because the Quarterback put them in vulnerable positions?

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Aptos Q1 2018 Real Estate Wrap-Up

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316 Doris (4 BR, 2 BA, 2,137sf) sold for $885,000 after 121 DOM

The Santa Cruz county real estate market continues to show remarkable strength. The median price for Santa Cruz county jumped to a new high of $920,5000 in March. This spike in prices appears to be the result of Silicon Valley workers seeking lower home prices and a better lifestyle in Santa Cruz. So how is the Aptos real estate market doing? Let’s look at the numbers in this Aptos Q1 2018 real estate wrap-up.

Here’s a quick break-down of the single-family home data:

  • 55 sales (-5.2% vs. 58 a year ago)
  • $885,000 median (-13.7% vs. $1,025,000 a year ago)
  • 50 Days on Market average (-19.4% vs. 62 a year ago)
  • $607/sf average (+6.1% vs. $572 a year ago)
  • 88 new listings (+22.2% vs. 72 a year ago)

Now let’s look at the market for condos and townhouses:

  • 23 Sales (+35.3% vs. 17 a year ago)
  • $700,000 median price (+8.4% vs. $646,000 a year ago)
  • 25 Days on Market average (-43.1% vs. 44 a year ago)
  • $535/sf average (+12.9% vs. $474/sf a year ago)
  • 29 new listings (unchanged from a year ago)

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A Closer Look

The 13.7% drop in median home price is alarming – but at the same time, the average price per square foot is up 6.1% in the same period. Smaller houses usually have a higher sale price per square foot than larger houses (since so much of the value of the real estate is in the land, rather than in the structure). In fact, the average home sold in Aptos in Q1 2018 had 1,963 square feet on average, vs. 2,350sf on average in Q1 2017.

Overall, the Aptos market does appear to be stable, with prices rising gradually compared to last year.  There’s mixed news for home owners thinking about selling:  homes are selling more quickly this year compared to last, but there’s significantly more competition in the Aptos market, with a lot more inventory this year compared to last.

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Family Trip to McWay Falls in Big Sur

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A few days back, we decided to take a family trip to McWay Falls in Big Sur.  I’ve been to Big Sur a bunch of times, to go camping, hiking, and of course to the famous Sykes Hot Springs for some epic naked hippie spotting.  But for some reason, I’d never been to check out McWay Falls at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park .  I’d seen many pictures before, and you may have, too:  the 80′ waterfall that pours onto the sand of the beach below, getting lapped up by the stunning aquamarine sea.

Unfortunately, they don’t actually let you go down and splash around under the falls.  It’s a steep climb down some almost vertical cliffs to get there, and they have yet to put in an elevator.  It may be possible to access it via rubber dingy or something from the ocean, but as a tourist arriving by car, the best you’ll do is to gawk at it from a trail which runs along the northern side of the inlet, a few hundred yards away form the falls themselves.

But that’s OK.  I can’t help but feel that if people were allowed to go tromping around the falls, it wouldn’t maintain its majestic beauty for long.  Certainly the sand wouldn’t look so pristine for picture taking.  Speaking of the sand, I learned something interesting when I was there – not long ago, there wasn’t any sand there whatsoever.  A massive landslide in the 1980’s poured gazillions of tons of dirt, sand, and rock into the water, and a lot of it ended up washing up into the inlet and forming the beach.  The beach we see there today is very new, and they say some other geologic event might cause it to be washed away again one day.  So go check it out while the getting is good!

We had great fun as a family on the trip – that’s one of the great things about Aptos:  if you don’t find what you’re looking for here, you’re sure to find it somewhere close by.  Between Aptos and Big Sur there’s no end of scenic viewpoints and places to stop and gawk, shop, eat, whatever!  I hope you enjoy a selection of photos from our outing.

Big Sur Family Trip Photo Gallery

New Year’s Walk at King Tide

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4K Video of Low Tide Walk from New Brighton to Capitola

On January 1, 2018, Santa Cruz county rang in the new year, and Mother Nature provided an incredible way to greet it: with a King Tide. A King
Tide is simply the very highest tide, and the flip side is a very low tide. When the tide is very low, it’s possible to walk from New Brighton Beach to Capitola Beach, right along the base of the cliff, without having to get wet.

My wife and I decided to take the kids for the walk, because this kind of super-low tide doesn’t happen every day. The weather was fine, just a tad under 60 degrees, with scattered high clouds. We started off from New Brighton Beach around 1 PM, with the lowest tide to come at 4:18 PM.

It took us a little more than an hour to make the walk to Capitola Village, exploring the rocks and tide pools exposed by the receding waters. We checked out countless sea anemones and hermit crabs, but were unable to find any starfish. Some folks said they had seen a small red octopus, but it vanished into the rocks.

We made it to Capitola shortly after 2 PM, and headed down for a late lunch at Paradise Beach Grill. By 3:30 we were again on the sand, walking back. On our way home, we ran into a lot of people we knew, so it took closer to two hours for the return trip. Which was fine, because the sunlight was sublime and it was great to be able to spend so much time with Mother Nature and so many members of our community.

We are so thankful that in less than a five minute drive from our house we can get to the beach for an experience as spectacular as the one we enjoyed as a family on New Year’s Day. Before we left, our youngest boy Evan was complaining about another trip to the beach, but he was amazed by all the “discoveries” we made, frolicking in the tide pools. Another priceless family memory, courtesy of our beautiful Monterey Bay. Happy New Year everyone!

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Aptos Little League: Life Lessons

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Little League Baseball

Yesterday was opening date for Aptos Little League.  I can’t believe it, but I am now in my fifth year of being a Little League parent.  We started our oldest son Aiden with T-Ball when he wasn’t quite yet four years old.  Our youngest son Evan started when he was four, and now he’s in his second season, still in T-Ball.  Aiden is now in AA, and it’s starting to get real.

All these years, I’ve been an assistant coach on the teams Aiden has been on.  It’s a little ironic, because I’ll be the first to tell anyone that I know diddly-squat about baseball.  Oh, I know the basics – three strikes and you’re out, nine innings, yadda yadda.  But when it comes to the mechanics of playing baseball – how to throw a ball, catch, hit – I’m pretty clueless.  I can do all those things to some degree, but I was never in Little League.  The finer points were never taught in my PE classes in school.

When the kids are really little, coaching didn’t involve a lot of those fine points. Mostly, it was me telling them not to eat the sand and play tag in the outfield. Now that we’re in AA, it’s starting to get serious, which is why this year on Aiden’s team, I’m now a bench coach.  Is that even a real thing?  I just googled it, and it turns out, it is – but I’m no second in command.  My job is to keep the kids focused on the game when they’re seated on the bench, waiting for their turn at bat.  There’s not too many fine points with that job, so I can handle it pretty well.

My kids don’t have the advantage of a dad who’s super into baseball.  Yes, I play catch with them and pitch balls for them to hit now and again, but not as much as I should.  Throwing, catching, batting – they’ve learned almost all of it at Little League practice and games.

It's opening day, and a Royals-Blue Jays love fest. #aptos #littleleague #bluejays #royals

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And it is amazing to watch their progress.  Neither of them came to Little League with a love of the game.  We’ve been to AT&T Park a few times to watch the Giants play, and they’ve had fun – running around, eating ice cream and hot dogs and soaking up the energy – but they weren’t exactly intently focused on the game.  Yet, there at Little League, you can see their skills mature, their confidence increase, and their enthusiasm grow with each day on the field.  They’re learning about the value of practice, persistence, and teamwork – and it is a joy to behold.

But there’s more to it than joy.  It’s a strong reminder to me that we can all get better at anything – with grit, determination, repetition.  Whether it’s being a parent, Real estate broker, or Guardian in the Crucible, practice makes perfect.  Or at least makes it better.

I’m really thankful to Little League for helping my kids with this important life lesson – and of course, also to the other parents and players who really enrich the sport and show what makes our such a special community.