Santa Cruz,California VS Destin,Florida VS Old Orchard Beach,Maine (living, state)

[terryclinker]

Yes, I know, this is another pool. But instead of being with 2 major cities, its with 3 beach towns. What would be your favorite of the 3 for vacationing and/or living.

I'll take Destin, because of the white sugar beaches, warm emerald waters, and eating hushpuppies and blackened grouper while viewing the emerald coast. Although Santa Cruz and OOB ar cool too.

[sav858]

Destin, b/c you can actually swim in the water unlike Santa Cruz. SC gets pretty boring after about two days. Don't know anything about OOB, ME though.

[happ]

Santa Cruz [but I have never been to Destin or Old Orchard Beach - in-fact I have never been in Maine but very close by]. I chose Santa Cruz because of several qualities:
1] beautiful beaches [ie Sea Cliff\ Capitola\ Rio Del Mar] with great beach weather [much warmer than San Francisco\ Monterey]. I know from much experience that the water temps in the Monterey Bay are brutal [it would take at least 10 minutes trying to ease into barely 60F ocean temps - as kids we would stay in body surfing\ swimming for hours & come out blue
2] The boardwalk has the oldest wooden roller coaster in California [the Big Dipper] that immediately drops into darkness & then climbs so high you can see across the bay - great & historic coaster. Santa Cruz & San Francisco used to have fantastic old time Fun Houses with all the stuff you see in old "Little Rascals" movies. Now it's a miniature golf
3] Pacific Gardens is about 5 blocks of outdoor restaurants\book stores - super leftist\ great little shops. The Loma Prieta earthquake knocked down an old unique building but it was build right back as it was historically.
4] University of California - Santa Cruz campus sit's in the redwood foothills above Santa Cruz [Green Party haven
5] Santa Cruz is reliably radical in usual Northern California style The City Council was so angry over a federal raid on a marijuana farm that they held a "Smoke In" in the city courtyard - tobacco wasn't allowed.
6] Santa Cruz mts has the largest stand of redwoods in Central California w/ great little towns. Areas like Soqual\ Aptos\ Capitola sit on foothills overlooking the Pacific & can see Monterey [30 miles across the bay] because Santa Cruz faces south it is warmer than Monterey or even Salinas.
7] Great surf w/ a long tradition of surfing in California. Santa Cruz sued Huntington Beach for the title of "Surf City USA" but Huntington won. Steamer Lane allows one to watch surfers up close & waves can easily approach 20' in winter
8] California - Santa Cruz is right in the middle. Close to San Jose\ Bay Area. The drive up Highway 1 to San Francisco is magnificent w/ coves\beaches\steep cliffs. San Francisco is only an hour away. Santa Cruz is also close to the wineries in the Salinas Valley. Monterey\Carmel as just across the bay & Big Sur is an hour further down the most scenic coastline in California [where car commercials seem to be filmed every year]. Sierra Nevada are 3 hours east of Santa Cruz for skiing on slopes & in lakes & Yosemite\ Sequoia.
9] Great climate with mild summers\ 70's & winters\low 60. Sunny with morning clouds\fog.

[cpg35223]

I've been to SC and Destin, and both are great places. But if I'm looking for a place to relax with the family, then the Gulf Coast wins hands down.

OOB, I can't give an informed opinion.

[Widowmaker2k]

Well, I voted for Santa Cruz, because it's the only one of the three that I've actually been to (or head of for that matter). Santa Cruz is a really cool place, I used to spend a few weeks every summer there when my relatives had a house there. Natural Bridges state park is awesome, and while the water is cold, it's not that cold. You can certainly still swim in it, and there's always the Boardwalk.

[Tony from Europe]

Santa Cruz

[K90]

Santa Cruz (like pretty much all of Ca) is expensive as hell is all I can tell you.

[BacktoNE]

OOB is mostly a tourist destination, and a Canadian one at that. The natives rarely go there. I can't imagine living there year 'round.

[krudmonk]

Santa Cruz: it's a sweet town but I'm also voting for the greater collection of cities and wilderness.