I have a friend here that has lived in the Bay Area for years, and would tell me stories of when she lived in Santa Cruz just so she could be by the water. On a rare Northern California day that was predicted to reach a high of 90 degrees and no rain, we decided to go to Santa Cruz and check out the forest known as Nisene Marks and the beautiful beach. Our first stop was the forest, where we let our dogs off leash to roam and sniff while we walked, surrounded by nature at it’s best. The fresh, pollution-free air and faint scent of redwood trees was…