We stayed at The Coop for 4 nights and enjoyed both the location and the house itself. Due to scheduling issues, we didn't actually get to meet Katie, but she made it easy for us to get the keys and stayed in touch via text msg, answering any q's we might have almost immediately. The house was furnished beautifully for a rental and was very inviting and homey. The location is great, with Seabright beach a 10-12 min walk and the Boardwalk approximately 20 mins away.

I would warn the light sensitive that the upstairs bedroom with the queen bed has NO window coverings whatsoever, and windows are on all four walls, so the room receives street and moon light all night, and you'll be getting up with the sunrise.

Also, like so many homes in Santa Cruz, there is no air conditioning, so if you happen to get unusually warm nights (or at least unusually warm for Seattleites :) ) like we did and need to keep the windows open, the street noise (until 11:30 or so) may keep you up if you try to go to bed early, and once that dies down and is peaceful, you can hear the sea lions start up as early as 4:00am.

After the first night, we went out and bought a fan and that resolved the need to keep the windows open and we slept better if not longer since the sun still got us up bright and early. Our kids were in the other two rooms and they had no issues as they had window coverings and were cooler being on the first floor.

We really liked the fully furnished kitchen and big dining area for family dinners and the birdhouse twin bedroom was an adorable room for our 7 year old daughter. I also was able to make use of the separate office space since this was a working trip for me, and enjoyed the fact there were books in there which made it feel like you were home. The kids enjoyed playing in the backyard and swinging in the hammock and were fascinated by having a cactus in the yard!

A few small nits: No fans, and no hairdryers provided. The tabletop ironing board provided was missing its back two feet and had a tear across the middle, which made it very difficult to use. (Most people probably don't iron on vacation so this is no biggie, but I was working up in the Valley while my family enjoyed the beach.)

Despite any small inconveniences we encountered we would definitely rent The Coop again for the locale, the decor and Katie's hospitality.