Sugar Detox

I ate my way through the three weeks I spent in Santa Cruz. I love visiting all my favorite yummy places for ice cream, pastries, candy etc. I also throw any sense of nutrition and exercise out the window when I'm on vacation. Usually my vacations are only a week, so how much harm can be done really? But this was three weeks, and I was supposed to sqeeze into my bridesmaid dress at the end of it. Poor planning on my part! It turns out after looking over my pictures that I ended up documenting a lot of my treats. So for all my Santa Cruz gal pals and family who know first hand just how amazing all these places are, these are for you.
First on my list for any visit, is a trip to Gayle's bakery, my shangri-la. I managed three visits where I enjoyed a bear claw, a slice of princess cake (my favorite!), and a raspberry napolean that I just finished sharing with Vicki here below.

We have to hit the boardwalk in the summer, especially for the kids. 75 cent hotdogs, soda, and cotton candy. I had all three. Watching Davey eat cotton candy is fascinating. He licks it all before he eats it. We dragged Vicki out for this outing too, she's always game for a good time.

Sparkle cupcakes! Enough said.

One of the best things ever is The Farm's fruit tart. They are made with a shortbread crust that is unbelievable. Talk to anyone who's ever tried them, and you get the same response. To know these tarts is to love them.

My sister's feather cake from her bachelorette party. Ahhh, the memories...

I did eat something healthy along the way. My sister prepared this incredible salad handpicked from her garden. So yummy!

But anyways...back to the sugar!! I also visited Marianne's Ice Cream three times, Kelly's French Pastry for an almond crimpy and a bear claw again, and Ghiradelli's for a hot fudge banana sundae on my birthday that took me most of the day to recover from. I also had four days of camping junk food that included smores each night. And last, but certainly not least, I wrapped up with my sister's wedding cake that was topped with marzipan strawberries that were out of this world!
So hard to get back into a routine of eating healthy again, it's kind of sad really. I took my kids down my sugar strewn path with me, so they're detoxing a little bit too. It was so worth it though, and I totally plan on doing it again!