Shuttle Update:
The shuttle bus plans have finally (hopefully) come together. Starting at 12:30 PM, we will be running large passenger vans from both hotels.
From the University Inn, a 12-person van will run once per hour on the half-hours.
From the Scotts Valley Hilton, an 8-person van will run every half-hour on the hour and half-hour.
Locals are welcome to use the shuttles if they want. We are not taking registrations for the shuttle — if you want to use it, please just show up. In case they are full, please give preference to people without cars. You may want to be prepared to drive all the way up here if you have a car. If you are driving up here, please carpool as much as possible.
There will be no pick-ups between 3:00 and 4:00.
The last shuttles will leave the house around 7:00.
Remembrances will start around 3:00, so please try to arrive by then.
If you need more information about the shuttles, get lost, etc., call Jake Metcalf’s cell at 831-251-1148.
There will be signage at the top of the driveway with a phone number if you need to be driven up/down the driveway (200 yds, sometimes quite steep).
Most people have cell phone reception at our house, but not in the rest of Bonny Doon.
This time of year, the temperature in Bonny Doon is typically 10 degrees hotter than Santa Cruz, so dress accordingly.
Directions
Getting to and from Geof and Leigh’s house can be tricky, so it is very important t0 read this carefully. Bonny Doon is a small, rural town located in a rugged portion of the mountains north of Santa Cruz, and their house is isolated. Driving around Bonny Doon is not for people with easily induced motion sickness, so pack some Dramamine. Everyone should allow for extra time, especially because parking is almost non-existant at their house. We recommend that people from out of town take advantage of our shuttle vans, which will run to and from the hotels several times throughout the day (register and then come back for details). Locals are STRONGLY encouraged to carpool. Their driveway is very steep (think 30 degree grades), so the parking immediately near their house (4 cars max) will be reserved for people with reduced mobility. Others need to be prepared to walk up and down a 200-yard hill, although we will have a car for shuttling up and down the driveway for people who need help.
Getting here from Santa Cruz without traffic takes around 25 minutes, from San Jose around 60 minutes, from Scotts Valley takes around 15 minutes, and from Felton around 10 minutes. Because there are no hotels in Bonny Doon (actually, no services of any kind), you will be coming from somewhere. HOWEVER—and this is a very important however—beach traffic on summer weekends in Santa Cruz can increase travel times dramatically. There is only one road from the Bay Area to Santa Cruz (Hwy 17), so it gets very clogged during rush hours on weekdays and all day on on the weekends. If you are coming or going between Santa Cruz/Scotts Valley and the Bay Area aiports the travel time can double or triple. For this reason, we strongly discourage attempts to fly into SJC/SFO on Saturday because it will be nearly impossible to make it to the party unless your flight arrives well before noon. In all seriousness, we would be very sad to have you miss the celebration because of the traffic, so please plan ahead.
Airports and travel times
The closest airport is San Jose (SJC) – without traffic, about a 35 minute drive from downtown Santa Cruz, 25 minutes from Scotts Valley. The San Francisco airport (SFO) is about 1 hr 15 minutes from Santa Cruz without traffic.
An alternative routing is to fly into San Francisco, cross the mountains at Half Moon Bay, and drive down the coast on Hwy 1. This route can also suffer dense traffic in afternoon rush hours and on summer weekend mornings. Without traffic the drive from SFO to Santa Cruz by this route is about 1.5 hours. Add 30 minutes to an hour if traveling at rush hour (3:30-6 PM) or on Sat. morning.
Return travel: Sunday afternoon (4-8 PM) can suffer dense beach-return traffic; add 1-1.5 hours to travel times. Monday morning there is rush hour traffic between Santa Cruz and San Jose (6:30-9 AM); add 15-30 minutes to travel times.
Traveling without a car
Neither hotel offers a shuttle service, so you will either need to rent a car, ask a local for a ride, or take public transport.
Here is a guide to public transportation to Santa Cruz from elsewhere in the Bay Area.* There is a bus that runs from San Jose’s Diridion Station to both Scotts Valley and downtown Santa Cruz. Although the bus stops in Scotts Valley, and you could walk to the Hilton, if you plan on being carless the University Inn is a better choice.
There are also several airport shuttles that will take you to and from Santa Cruz County: Santa Cruz Airport Flyer, Early Bird Shuttle, and Surf City Shuttle.
If you are a local and want to offer airport shuttling, please use the comments section below.
*A suggestion: if you fly into SJC, it’s easiest to take a short cab ride to the bus station rather than wait for the local bus.
Maps
From everywhere:
Summit Drive is a right turn off of Empire Grade. The signage is poor, so begin looking for the turn 3/4 miles from the Y-shaped intersection of Pine Flat and Empire Grade. The turn is immediately before a curvy road sign, and will take you past a bunch of signs with family names and a set of mailboxes. Follow Summit around a bend until you see signs for the party. Parking will be at the top of their driveway and at neighbors’ houses, shuttles will drop you off at the house.
Also note that the curvy roads tend to trick Google Maps and thus the written directions can have more turns listed than exist in reality.
The address is: 539 Summit Dr., Santa Cruz, CA, 95060.
From SFO:
Alternative coastal route from SFO (may be faster given traffic, definitely prettier):
From SJC:
From Santa Cruz, past UCSC:
Alternative route from Santa Cruz, better from Downtown or East Side:
How do I access the information on the shuttle vans?
I, too, would like information on the shuttle vans. There will be me and Lisa Bloom attending.
Thanks,
Roddey
I’m sorry to be replying so late. My partner and I are coming. We’ve been there before so the only problem might be parking.