For the Love of San Lorenzo Valley
By P. Maya Morgan
I’ve never been happier ‘sheltering’ in my mountain home these long pandemic days. We have all shades of greenery everywhere we look from redwoods and bay trees to manzanita and the tender unfurling ferns. What a blessing each of us have been given to wake up in the San Lorenzo Valley!
I once belonged to the beach-going Westsiders, before it was trendy to live there. I enjoyed walking my dog down to Steamer Lane in the evening to watch the sunset. I don’t miss the everyday slowdown on Mission and Bay Streets. I haven’t missed my neighbors who built a second story on their home that encroached on the privacy of my backyard and windows. I don’t miss the new Starbucks and the gentrified breweries that now outnumber gas stations and banks in town. I don’t miss having my car handles jiggled every evening as packs of thieves looked for something to steal. And I certainly don’t miss all that fog in the middle of summer when it’s sunny and hot just up the hill.
Twenty-four years in, my husband and I have never regretted our decision to nest under the redwoods.
We all moved here for similar reasons: To get away from the madness and concentration of people. We probably all have a weird story to tell about a neighbor up here, but I’ll leave that for another time, because I now have the best one. We certainly like our privacy in the valley, and we don’t have anyone telling us what to do. We find sanctuary in our gardens and tranquility exploring old logging roads that lead to spring creeks and the San Lorenzo River.
And so many of us are interested in being involved in the community, whether it’s enjoying a stage production at Mountain Community Theater, donating to the food pantry at Valley Churches United, or being part of the impact that the Valley Women’s Club has on local advocacy. The level of support we provide one another is stronger here than anywhere else I’ve lived.
A few years ago I published a story in a book collaboration called Santa Cruz Weird.
In the book I wrote that as a young child I had camped under the massive Big Basin redwoods with my family, an uncle, an aunt, and three cousins. The adults loved being in the cool forest away from the Central Valley heat. I remember the kids outnumbered the adults six to four. “We became bored with hiking trails and the shadowed campground and started acting-out as annoying pains until the adults agreed to drive us to the beach. It seemed almost every day we took that twisty, car-sick drive down Highway 9 to discover a world beyond the redwoods. I fondly recall slamming back and forth with my cousins laughing in the back seat till we exploded like cans of shaken soda in the Boardwalk parking lot.”
I have always found it curious (maybe synchronicity?) that I instinctively knew SLV was home.
I can’t imagine how stir-crazy I’d be now, two months into quarantine, if I lived in a studio apartment in town; especially with the beaches and parks closed to the public. We are so fortunate that we can step outside our doors and walk around our ‘hood and see nature freshly cleaned and sprouting in its finest season. As Oprah says, “gratitude expands your awareness.” Being quarantined in a place like the San Lorenzo Valley ain’t that bad, folks. I have such gratitude for the intuition that led me here so many years ago.
The San Lorenzo Valley Post is your essential guide to life in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We're dedicated to delivering the latest news, events, and stories that matter to our community. From local government to schools, from environmental issues to the arts, we're committed to providing comprehensive and unbiased coverage. We believe in the power of community journalism and strive to be a platform for diverse voices.
It’s so refreshing to read what so many of us have felt during the Covid quarantine. The people we live with in this community continue to make this magical place extra special.