The bumper sticker says, "Keep Santa Cruz Weird.".....What a noble pursuit?
And what do you expect from a town, who'se college mascot is the Fighting Banana Slug?
How about a new bumper sticker: "Keep Santa Cruz nude"? Quite frankly, the first (e.g. "weird") is easier to accomplish than the second (e.g. "nude"). Whyisdat? Well, Santa Cruz, California is a liberal.....err....sorry progressive....happening place. Secondly, Santa Cruz draws fog particularly in the summertime, meaning if you want to be a nude.....think spring or fall.
A near-perfect selection is the Kiva Retreat www.kivaretreat.com about a mile or two east of downtown Santa Cruz. The retreat house and grounds is officially clothing optional, but Godiva happily saw nothing but nude bodies during a recent visit. And there was a nice gender balance as the place was not consumed by an overabundance of hormonal males.
"One of the things that makes the KIVA so unique is its community facilities where bathing suits are optional and one can sun bathe in the nude," says the Kiva website. "Whether enjoying our new state of the art sauna, soaking in our large community tubs, plunging in our cold tub or relaxing quietly in our cozy indoor fireplace room we assure you of a very special experience."
Godiva took a member of the opposite gender, who was experiencing social nudity for the first time, to Kiva. The two small locker rooms, each with its own shower and commode open up to the garden, the tubs and to the sauna located about 30 yards away. The larger and slightly cooler of the hot tubs is located nearest to the locker rooms. This tub and the sauna are the center of the most attention. Next to the main hot tub is the invigorating or just down-right bone chilling cold plunge pool. A little further is the really hot tub, very similar to a Japanese onsen bath where one wants to ease in very carefully and not move. This particular tub and the sauna are officially in Kiva's "quiet" area.
Godiva noticed that even though one could meditate in these areas that Kiva is not overly touchy-feely. The majority of the nude practitioners either picnicked or just laid out on the grass taking advantage of the few fall hours of fall sun.
Kiva has very few downsides, namely it is quite a hike from San Francisco or San Jose. It really has enough to do for a few hours or maybe a day-and-one-half. And the presence of more than eight couples would constitute a crowd. Having said that, the owners of Kiva deserve credit for providing nudists with a wonderful little retreat to enjoy an au-naturel afternoon.
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