Oh how I am longing for the 75 degree California sun! Last weekend my dad and I went to San Luis Obispo to do a creativity workshop at Cal Poly. We flew into Santa Barbara airport where the sun was shinning and it was a beautiful day. If any of you have ever flown into that airport you will understand when I say .. that is a pretend airport! As we were getting off the plane I said to my dad, "where is the airport?" There really isn't one. You walk from the plane across the runway to a gate that leads you out to the drop off/ parking area. The baggage area is a tent where the guy
Santa Barbara Airport(do you see the baggage tent)
drives up and hands you your bag. It was just bazaar. Of course our bags did not make it. I swear that my dad is jinxed when it comes to checking bags. Our two bags (one full of all the supplies for the workshop) had been "rerouted" through LA. Don't worry,
(this is where you wait for your flight)
we were told, your bags will be delivered to you by midnight tonight. We sure hope so ... without that bag we have NO workshop!
We hopped in our rental car and headed straight for
Trader Joe's. I absolutely love that place. I stocked up on my favorite trail mix, yogurt, humus, fruit snacks, and a few snacks for the road. It was an hour and half drive up to San Luis after all. ;) The drive was gorgeous! That drive is worth the trip in and of itself. I love the ocean and the smell and the sun!
We pulled off at the first Costco we saw and bought a shirt for my dad to wear at his lecture that night seeing as our clothes were somewhere in LA. What an adventure this trip was turning out to be.
My good friend Jennie drove up from LA to spend the weekend with us. It is always a good time when Jennie is there.
Most of Saturday was spent in the workshop. Yes we did get our bags. It went really well and we met some interesting people. As soon as the workshop was done we headed for the beach. It was about 5:00 and the sun was just starting to set. You know those moments were you feel just blissfully happy .. that was one of those moments! I can't even describe it. We walked up and down the beach just soaking it all in. After watching the sun set over the ocean it was time to eat. Being at the beach makes you want sea food! We couldn't see anywhere to eat right on the beach so we stopped and asked for a recommendation. "Drive down this road until you reach the end." So that is exactly what we did. We drove until we hit the pier and then we drove down the pier (only because the car in front of us did). It turns out there is a great sea food restaurant at the end of the pier. We ate the BEST food! I will dream about that meal for a long time! Could this day get any better?
As we were leaving the resturant a couple of guys were coming up the steps of the pier with buckets of water. A couple of their buddies were at the end of the pier fishing. So I asked if they had caught anything. A small shark! Cool! Can we see? Now to make this part a little more interesting you have to visualize these guys. Mexican gangsters! They so did not fit the scene. They were very nice and showed us the shark. It was just a small one. They put it in the bucked of water and told us to watch .. it will start throwing up little fish. They don't actually do anything with these sharks. They catch them and watch them puff up as they gulp air and then put them in a bucket to watch them throw up little fish. After that they just throw them back into the ocean. It was very funny! Could this night get any better?
As we walked back to the car we suddenly hear
(don't worry Jennie, I won't let you fall over!)
sea lions barking. So we run over to the edge and peer over. There were about 9 huge sea lions. Jennie was so brave that she walked down a few steps to get closer ... until one came after her! This entertained us for a while. Could this night get any better?
As we drove back to San Luis we noticed this very strange place called Madonna Inn. My dad knew about this place and insisted that we go take a
peak inside. It was well worth it. I felt like I had jumped into the movie Dirty Dancing. Everything inside was pink and gaudy. It was great. They had a live band and dancing so my Dad danced with each of us. I sure don't know how to dance! Could this day get any better?
We got back to the hotel and ended our amazing day with a soak in the hot tub. The jets in the hot tub were aimed wrong creating small volcanoes. That aside it was a great end to a perfect day (minus Jennie losing her sunglasses somewhere on the beach). It was such a great weekend with my Dad and Jennie. One for the books!
drives up and hands you your bag. It was just bazaar. Of course our bags did not make it. I swear that my dad is jinxed when it comes to checking bags. Our two bags (one full of all the supplies for the workshop) had been "rerouted" through LA. Don't worry,
(this is where you wait for your flight)we were told, your bags will be delivered to you by midnight tonight. We sure hope so ... without that bag we have NO workshop!
We hopped in our rental car and headed straight for
Trader Joe's. I absolutely love that place. I stocked up on my favorite trail mix, yogurt, humus, fruit snacks, and a few snacks for the road. It was an hour and half drive up to San Luis after all. ;) The drive was gorgeous! That drive is worth the trip in and of itself. I love the ocean and the smell and the sun!
We pulled off at the first Costco we saw and bought a shirt for my dad to wear at his lecture that night seeing as our clothes were somewhere in LA. What an adventure this trip was turning out to be.My good friend Jennie drove up from LA to spend the weekend with us. It is always a good time when Jennie is there.
Most of Saturday was spent in the workshop. Yes we did get our bags. It went really well and we met some interesting people. As soon as the workshop was done we headed for the beach. It was about 5:00 and the sun was just starting to set. You know those moments were you feel just blissfully happy .. that was one of those moments! I can't even describe it. We walked up and down the beach just soaking it all in. After watching the sun set over the ocean it was time to eat. Being at the beach makes you want sea food! We couldn't see anywhere to eat right on the beach so we stopped and asked for a recommendation. "Drive down this road until you reach the end." So that is exactly what we did. We drove until we hit the pier and then we drove down the pier (only because the car in front of us did). It turns out there is a great sea food restaurant at the end of the pier. We ate the BEST food! I will dream about that meal for a long time! Could this day get any better?
As we were leaving the resturant a couple of guys were coming up the steps of the pier with buckets of water. A couple of their buddies were at the end of the pier fishing. So I asked if they had caught anything. A small shark! Cool! Can we see? Now to make this part a little more interesting you have to visualize these guys. Mexican gangsters! They so did not fit the scene. They were very nice and showed us the shark. It was just a small one. They put it in the bucked of water and told us to watch .. it will start throwing up little fish. They don't actually do anything with these sharks. They catch them and watch them puff up as they gulp air and then put them in a bucket to watch them throw up little fish. After that they just throw them back into the ocean. It was very funny! Could this night get any better?As we walked back to the car we suddenly hear
(don't worry Jennie, I won't let you fall over!)sea lions barking. So we run over to the edge and peer over. There were about 9 huge sea lions. Jennie was so brave that she walked down a few steps to get closer ... until one came after her! This entertained us for a while. Could this night get any better?
As we drove back to San Luis we noticed this very strange place called Madonna Inn. My dad knew about this place and insisted that we go take a
peak inside. It was well worth it. I felt like I had jumped into the movie Dirty Dancing. Everything inside was pink and gaudy. It was great. They had a live band and dancing so my Dad danced with each of us. I sure don't know how to dance! Could this day get any better?
We got back to the hotel and ended our amazing day with a soak in the hot tub. The jets in the hot tub were aimed wrong creating small volcanoes. That aside it was a great end to a perfect day (minus Jennie losing her sunglasses somewhere on the beach). It was such a great weekend with my Dad and Jennie. One for the books!
9 comments:
Sounds Fabulous! I am longing for a warm sunny vacation, and great seafood to top it off... nice!
I felt like I was with you while reading this post!!! What a fun weekend!!! I'm sitting here with my mom on my lap top.. she said "Did you read Sari's blog? You HAVE to read it!" Sari, you are adorable. I just love you so much!
This may rival our "best day ever" from 2002! I'm glad you had so much fun!
Fun, wish I could have been there too!! Hope you had a great Valentine's day! XOXOXO We love you!!
I am so missing the sun right now!! How fun!
Good for you! Sounds like a fun trip. I love that part of California.
Every time I fly somewhere I have a deep-rooted anxiety that my bags will be lost. I think I am a closet paranoid schizophrenic.
Looks like you had so much fun! The pictures turned out great! I like your hair in these pics, BTW.
haa, the madonna inn! love that place! this really was a trip down memory lane for me -- so glad you had such a good time! it is really beautiful and right about this time every year, i begin LONGING for the beach!
Post a Comment