Well, we're back. Back to work, back to the rain.
On July 2nd, we set out bright and early (by car) for Santa Barbara, California. We crossed the border by 7:00AM, and by the time we hit southern Oregon, we were out of the clouds, and into the sunshine. At Grants Pass, Oregon, we decided to vere off of the I-5, in favour of the scenic coastal route through the Giant Redwood Forests. We hit northern California the first evening, and after 12 hours of driving, found a nice campsite for our first night.
The campsite commissary sold six-packs of Bud for four bucks (we ended up getting two of 'em), so armed with cold beer, we set up our tents and I flipped burgers on my Coleman stove... quite a chore, actually... I had to use tinfoil for a makeshift griddle, but it worked, we ate, slept for about 6.5 hours, then hit the road again.
By the way, checkout Carole's photo website It's All Good (Carole's Photo Gallery) for some pictures - I figured since she's already posted 'em, I won't duplicate the effort.
California is a LONG state - and since we did the coastal route all the way to Santa Barbara, we probably drove for 4 or 5 hours longer than we would have if we'd stayed on the I-5 - BUT - it was totally worth it! We got to go through San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, through Eureka, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, and we got the awesome ocean view, and cool ocean breeze that we would never have had on the I-5. Finally, shortly before 8PM, (after a total of 25 hours of driving) we pulled into Carole's grandparents driveway, in Santa Barbara.
We cought up, ate dinner, then had a gooooood nights sleep!
The next morning, we were up bright and early to the sounds of classical music wafting through the house. Today is the fourth of July, and there are many activities going on around the city. First we take in the 4th of July parade, then we attend a free "symphony in the park", presented by the Santa Barbara symphony in the sunken garden of the historic old Santa Barbara court house. After a bit of sight seeing, and some food, we're then off to the grassy knoll of the College, (which overlooks the harbour) to take in the spectacular, hour long, 4th of July fireworks display. Then it's back to bed, 'cause we're going to be up early!
On the 5th, we decide to do some geocaching. I had read up about a half-dozen caches within walking distance of our domicile, and figured they'd be easy to locate - but after our first three dead ends, we came to the realization that in California, caches aren't hidden like they are in B.C. ... no rotten stumps, no moss coverage, no thick foliage, just lots of rocks, dust, and cacctus... we had to think differently if we were going to have any success here! Fortunately, the most important cache of my "to-find" list, the "Santa Barbara Travel Bug Hotel" was an EASY find ... it's a 5 gallon bucket! We traded the German Shepard travel bug that we brought down from Canada, for Harlow, a monkey travel bug that wants to see Canada - so a perfect trade! Over the next few days, we will successfully locate eight caches in Santa Barbara, (and unsuccessfully search for at least eight others) which actually turned out to be more finds than I was hoping for, so that's kewl!!!
Oh, you can read all about the journey we took with "German Shepard" and check out the photos I've posted of his trip, at the Travel Bug tracking Website
The next day was full of sight seeing. We went to the beach, walked the warf, checked out downtown, saw the museum, climbed the courthouse tower, and basically just soaked up the sun, and the atmosphere. On Thusday Carole and I toured the Mission, and that night, we dressed up, and headed to Solvang, an authentic Danish Village with European architecture, for an authentic smorgasborg dinner, then a "theatre under the stars" showing of "Guys and Dolls". It was a REALLY professional production, and one of the highlights of our trip!
Another late night, another early morning, and it's Friday already... we're setting off early tomorrow, so today we kick back in the sun, do some more geocaching, take the grandparent's dog to the beach, take a driving tour through the estates of Montecito (where Oprah has her 60 million dollar ranch-slash-palace), and we top it off with an authentic Mexican dinner at a quaint little restaurant.
Having French grandparents makes for and awesome apres dinner tradition of wine and cheese every night, but combined with the copious amount of ice cream, frapaccinos, frostys, and milkshakes we've been consuming to keep cool in the California heat, Carole and I have each somehow managed to put on about ten pounds over the last week... yikes! We're going to have to do something about that when we get home!
So Saturday morning at 5:00AM, we're up and at 'em. After bidding our hosts a fond farewell, we're on the road (this time straight up the I-5) - heading straight north. We make it to within 20 miles of Grants Pass, Oregon the first day, and miraculously find the first drops of rain to be seen in over a week, as we begin pitching our tents. The rain gets heavier after cooking up Coleman stovetop chunky soup for dinner, but stops long enough for us to enjoy a six-pack of Bohemian Lager, and a bottle of two-buck-chuck. This $2 bottle of wine, by the way, is awesome stuff... I know, it's hard to believe, but we brought back a few bottles - it's better than the stuff I bottled the other month, that's for sure... and my cost came out to $6 a bottle... how can I compete? Anyway, we settled in for the night as the rain started pouring down. The next morning we were actually fairly dry and comfy, though another 5AM awakening wasn't exactly 'enjoyable'... on the road again by 6, I drove through the entire state of Oregon, and let Carole take a stint at the wheel just after Vancouver, Washington. We were through the border by 3PM, and after unloadiing at Carole's dad's place in Kits, we were home around five.
Sigh... in twelve hours we both have to get up for work.
It was a nice trip - short and sweet, but still with ample time to really be enjoyable, and get lots done. I know I haven't gone into much detail in this blog entry... I could have written this long about the Mission alone... or about Solvang, or about the beaches - or about how rediculously (yet amusingly) patriotic the 4th of July Parade was, but hey, those are all other stories, they'll save for another time, right?
Posted by Calvin at July 12, 2005 07:37 AMGlad you had a great trip! So you have finally joined the rest of us who have discovered two-buck-chuck. If only we had a Trader Joe's up here so we could buy it in Canada. That is the stuff Grace bought a case of to take home from San Diego last year because it is even cheaper in CA than it is in Arizona.
Posted by: paladane at July 12, 2005 02:38 PM