Sand Sculpture Contest & Glowing Beach Festival 🏖️✨

The last weekend of September was the Capitola Beach Festival! 🎉 The whole area around Capitola Beach was buzzing with activities all weekend long—I finally got to explore Capitola after putting it off for two years! Too bad the weather wasn’t great though—the famous colorful houses lost half their charm without the sun ☁️😢 🏜️ Sand Sculpture Contest There were solo artists and family teams competing. A self-portrait octopus ended up winning the contest! 🐙🏆 Have you ever joined a sand sculpture event? 🦭 Capitola Wharf Under the deck, there were sea lions stretching their necks (and some very ignored seagulls living their best life 😆). Do you love watching sea lions as much as I do? 💐 Pueblo Viejo Imports Passed by this Mexican home goods store on the way to the beach—a total explosion of saturated colors! 🎨 They had hundreds of Day of the Dead decorations, mostly ceramic. Wanted to buy everything… until I saw the prices 😅💸 Have you been to a store that made you feel like that? 🌜 Drone Light Show Over 200 drones lit up the night sky, forming beach-themed patterns above the shore—magical! ✨🛸 Have you seen a drone show before? 🛶 Lighted Nautical Parade A beautiful parade of illuminated boats sailing along the coast—so dreamy at night! 🚤💡 🌮 Taqueria Los Pericos Every time I’m near Santa Cruz, all I can think about is tacos! For lunch, I went to the Capitola Beach branch of Tacos Moreno (highly recommended on Reddit)—I was so hungry I ate three tacos before remembering to take a photo 😂 For dinner, I tried Taqueria Los Pericos (top-rated on Google Maps) and had four more tacos—huge portions, ate them with a fork like a taco bowl! But honestly, the lunch spot tasted better! After seven tacos in one day, I feel like I’ve earned myself a ticket to Mexico 😋🇲🇽 What’s your taco count in a day? #BayAreaLife #WeekendsInTheBay #CaliforniaLife #CaliforniaTravel #BeachVibes #FestivalFun #SandArt #DroneShow #TacoTour #ColorfulCalifornia #SeasideTown #DayTrip #ExploreCA #BeachFestival #LocalEvents #TravelDiary