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Photo: Prg, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This beach can get crowded in the summer, but has some nice walks, a little visitors' center, and a striking centerpiece: the Palo Alto, a concrete ship with a strange history. It rots away in the water but is fascinating in a melancholy way. Read about it in the center if it's open when you're there (call ahead due to state budget cuts).
Seacliff State Beach is a state beach park on Monterey Bay, in the town of Aptos, Santa Cruz County, California. It is located off Highway 1 on State Park Drive, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Santa Cruz. The beach is most known for the concrete ship SS Palo Alto lying in the water. North of Seacliff State Beach is New Brighton State Beach.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
This state park is a beautiful, mossy area that used to be a logging site. It's great for hiking and mountain biking. Although most people don't know this, it is the site of the 1989 Loma Prieta quake epicenter.