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Photograph by George Sakkestad Wing Thing: For bird-watching, no place on the Central Coast beats the ever-changing avian parade at Elkhorn Slough. Best Sports and Recreation DESPITE LAST WEEK'S dustup between a discombobulated resident and the Santa Cruz Police Department, West Cliff Drive remains the outdoor promenade of choice for our readers--the justly famous view corridor won for Best Bike Ride, Best Jogging Trail, Best Road Bike Ride and Best Roller Skating/Blading Ride. If you hurry, you can even see the fluttering monarch butterflies, which may or may not be endangered depending upon your feelings about parking lots. Once again, the Best Bird-Watching spot--Elkhorn Slough--doesn't strictly count as local, but the nesting herons and wading egrets are majestic and we just happened to have a great photo from our article about the Slough that we didn't get a chance to run before. Best Bike Ride GOLD West Cliff Drive SILVER Wilder Ranch BRONZE Forest of Nisene Marks State Park Best Bird-Watching Spot GOLD Elkhorn Slough SILVER Natural Bridges BRONZE Neary Lagoon Best Golf Course GOLD De Laveaga Golf Course & Lodge Upper Park Rd., SC 423.7212 SILVER Pasatiempo Golf Club 18 Clubhouse Rd., SC 459.9155 BRONZE Boulder Creek Golf & Country Club 16901 Big Basin Highway, BC 338.2121 Best Hiking Trail GOLD Forest of Nisene Marks State Park SILVER Pogonip BRONZE Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park Best Jogging Trail GOLD West Cliff Drive SILVER Forest of Nisene Marks BRONZE Pogonip Best Mountain Bike Ride GOLD Wilder Ranch SILVER Forest of Nisene Marks BRONZE UCSC Best Road Bike Ride GOLD West Cliff Drive SILVER Highway 9 BRONZE Highway 1 Best Roller Skating/ Blading Spot GOLD West Cliff Drive SILVER The Rink 251 Kings Village Road, SV 438.2222 BRONZE Santa Cruz Roller Palladium Seabright Avenue and Gault Street, SC 423.0844 Best Surf Spot GOLD Steamer Lane SILVER Pleasure Point BRONZE Cowell Cove Best Whale-Watching Spot GOLD Davenport SILVER West Cliff Drive BRONZE Lighthouse Point Readers' Choice Awards Best Food & Drink Best Music & Nightlife Best Goods & Services Best Arts Best People & Places Best Write-Ins Critics' Choice Awards Jesse Davis: All the Shoes That Fit Stuart Finch: Rock Balancing Act Isabel Piekarski: Latin Dance Sensation Juan Cuellar: Compassionate Warrior Nate Brunskill: Film Fanatic Warren Odell: Tour Guide to an Anomaly Sarah Gerhardt: Woman Who Rides Mountains Seema Weatherwax: Late-Blooming Photographer Stephanie Smith: Student of the Sciences Theo Paige: The Not.So.Mad Fiddler [ Santa Cruz | MetroActive Central | Archives ]