Wish we all could be California kids

We were all pretty exhausted on Friday morning.  Even with the time change, we slept well past 8 AM.  Our original plan had been to spend our first day in Disneyland, but with the slow start we thought it best to postpone until we had one more good night of sleep.

Neither Patrick or I had ever been to Santa Barbara, so that was our goal for the day.  We decided to head first to Santa Monica, search out some tacos, and then drive up the coast. We made a pit stop at REI for sandals for Anna, and to get a recommendation for a good taco place.  We assumed the REI staff would be "in the know".  We succeeded on the sandals... the tacos, not so much.  They were fine, but not nearly as good as the taco truck at the Summit Farmers' Market.  Clearly, the REI staff needs to get out more!

After lunch, we walked to a park that looked over the beach and Santa Monica pier.  Will and Anna loved climbing the twisty trees and looking up at the tall palms.  Will spotted the rides on the pier, and immediately started begging.  We promised him that the next day we would take him to a place with more rides and fun than he could imagine.  That got him to head back to the car for the two hour drive to Santa Barbara.

On the drive up to Santa Barbara, Will and Anna were pretty clear about how much they didn't like being cooped up in the car for the long ride.  After the 6 hour flight, and two hour drive to the airport the day before, they needed to run around.  When we got to Santa Barbara, we decided to park at the beach and let them explore.  We passed a skateboard park... well, we didn't actually pass it... as soon as Will saw it he ran over, and we all stopped to watch the skateboarders do their tricks.  Will has been asking for a skateboard... he claims he is "really good at doing tricks", but I think it will be at least a couple of years before we let him try.  For now, he'll have to settle for watching.

My intention was to walk the path along the beach, looking out at the ocean on one side and mountains on the other.

My children, however, had a different idea.  The lure of all that sand was too strong.  I figured, why not? We were in California, and we had two kids with energy to burn.  There were birds to chase and boats to watch.  What harm could come from a little walk in the sand?

But they kept walking further and further away.

Next thing we knew, we were dipping our toes in the Pacific, playing in the sand and throwing rocks in the water.

And then Anna fell in...

While Patrick and I took care of our soaking wet girl (we had no towels or change of clothes), Will decided it was the perfect time to take off...

... and Anna quickly followed.  They headed straight for this sand dune.  Really, how could they resist climbing up, sliding down on their wet bellies, and digging giant holes with their hands?

I went in search of dry clothes... but with only this sign for help, I didn't get too far.

I found some oversized t-shirts at a surf shop. We managed to salvage Will's outfit with some vigorous brushing off of sand, but Anna went to dinner in nothing but her new shirt. It's California...who needs pants?

We ate dinner at a pizza place looking out at the beach.  The kids loved it, and didn't even notice that the pizza was not up to NJ standards... the view more than made up for it, and the pizza was still pretty good :)  Don't they look like California kids?

After dinner, we drove around Santa Barbara a bit, stopping at the Mission (which by this point was closed), and checking out the UC Santa Barbara campus (if I had to do college over again, this would be near the top of my list).  It was a beautiful City.  We will definitely have to visit again, stay longer, and bring dry clothes!

Previous  Next