A couple of weeks ago we packed up the car and headed south to Santa Barbara for a twenty year reunion of myself and five of my closest buddies. Here’s part of the road near Cachuma Lake. I love those California Live Oaks.
The planning for the trip had started years ago, as my friends and I realized that we were nearing the twenty year mark of having graduated.
It was a great trip. We stayed in the guest quarters of a private home that I found on Home Away. The gardens of the home were lovely and it was a little like living in the book “A Secret Garden.” We had free reign of this gorgeous patio!
The bed was comfortable and we felt slightly spoiled by the lovely linens and pretty bathroom.
On the first day, we went to the East Beach. Zoom loved playing in the water and chasing “hoppers.”
That night we stopped by Isla Vista, which is the college town next to UC Santa Barbara. I lived there for two years, at my sorority house. It was nice to see one of the tags Gamma Phi along the wall at the Sig Ep house.
We got burritos at Freebirds (an IV institution, and the original), and then headed back downtown to hear some music. The sky that night was unreal.
We spent the next few days hanging out with old friends, eating great food, and celebrating the 4th of July. One of my favorite moments happened on the last night when we were eating pizza at Woodstock’s in Isla Vista. The kids all found their way outside, and in a surreal moment, twenty years after I’d left this lovely college town, they jumped up on the tables outside and started singing and dancing. I guess some things just never change.
My Zoom is the shortest (and youngest) of the crowd of party animals.
On the way home, we stopped off to feed the ostriches and emus at Ostrichland USA. It was a new highlight. I even bought a very cheesy coffee mug!
These emus peck really hard, so you have to hold on to your bowl-attached-to-a-dustpan tightly!
So where are you headed this summer? Any trips down memory lane planned?
Happy Travels!