The Lee Family: California, Day 9: Driving to Santa Barbara

It was Friday and as much as I hated saying goodbye to Becky and her family, I was excited to be meeting CK in Santa Barbara that afternoon! CK would be arriving in Burbank around 2pm and planned to rent a car and drive up to our little hotel in Santa Barbara, so we had most of the day to make the 1 1/2 hour drive. We had breakfast, I did one last load of laundry, and we hung out at Becky's before saying goodbye around 11am. It was such a fun visit and the girls loved hanging out with Megan and Aunt Becky and I'm excited they were able to see Uncle Pancho too. I wish we were able to see my brother Rob and his wife Margee, but they were in Canada with my sister Kathy, and were gone the same time we were in California.

We got gas and decided to get a flat of strawberries. We ate some on the drive and they were delicious! We arrived in Los Alamos and I really wanted to visit the ceramics studio/shop Terramonary, which was closed yesterday when we walked through town. It was open and the lady who runs it was really nice. The style of ceramics weren't really my favorite but I wanted to get something to remember our trip by and think of Los Alamos, so I bought a small colander that would be perfect for fruit. We also bought little necklaces of a bird and butterfly for the girls which were really sweet. I wanted to get a coffee mug but didn't really love the sizes or thinness of the cups.

We loaded up again and headed down 101. At the last minute I decided to pull off the 101 and drive down Alisos Canyon Road, since I knew it would end up near Los Olivos. I used to bike Alisos Canyon Road in middle school and can remember biking from school toward home and riding until my brother Rob could pick me up. I can't imagine sending a 12 year old kid down that road by herself now.... Similar to Foxen Canyon, very little has changed as far as ranches and homes, but instead of cattle and horse farms there are vineyards everywhere! There were also several vegetable fields, most growing yellow squash and I explained to Sofia how hard the men in the fields worked to pick the vegetables and how those vegetables were the ones in our grocery store.

It was a beautiful drive and I stopped a lot to take photos which was easy to do since we virtually had the road to ourselves. We made it to Los Olivos and it was near lunchtime so I decided to drive into Solvang. My best friend, Stacy, in middle school lived in Solvang and I remember visiting her there and walking around sometimes. Solvang is so cute but also such a fake little touristy place. We parked our car and were trying to figure out where to eat when Sofia spotted two draft horses pulling a cart full of people and giving a tour of the area. She was so excited, so we decided to figure out where to get onto it and started following it. After carrying Olivia for blocks and trying to keep up with Sofia, we finally found where to board the Solvang Tours and bought our tickets. We got on board and heard all about Solvang and we were carried around by the two huge draft horses. It was actually a pretty interesting tour and the girls loved it. Sofia mainly watched the horses and especially loved watching them as they turned around and crossed their front feet over each other.

After the tour we went to a cute little cafe and had lunch. It was delicious and we were all very hungry. After lunch, we got ice cream and bought a big plastic tin of Solvang's famous butter cookies, which somehow tasted a lot better when I was 12. The girls loved them. We loaded into our car and headed to Santa Barbara to meet up with CK who was already on his way there from Burbank.

We met up at our little hotel the Villa Rosa, which was a short block from the beach and one block off State Street. We unloaded our stuff and made our way into our room which was really cute. The king bed and bathroom were downstairs with a queen bed upstairs. The lobby of the Villa Rosa was really cute too and the location couldn't be better. We checked out the cute back area that includes a pool and hot tub and has a very relaxed garden feel to it. The girls loved pretending that they were horses and had escaped their stable. Since we'd spent most of the day in the car, we decided to walk around and find a good place for dinner before walking along the beach.

We found a good Mexican restaurant and ate dinner. Then we walked down State Street and stuck our feet in the sand. Of course the girls took off toward the ocean and I went with them since the sand is very wide and once at the ocean the girls aren't visible. Sofia loved it and wanted to go in right away, while Olivia was still a bit leery of it all. The girls ran into and out of the surf and played in the sand for a long time before we headed back to the hotel. The girls got ready for bed and we thought they would share the queen size bed upstairs, but after a lot of negotiation, Olivia decided she wanted to sleep on the floor, so we made her a little bed on the floor. We read stories and said goodnight and had a near-heart attack when Olivia tried to make her way down the stairs a little after she was put in the bed and tumbled down them. There was absolutely no light on the stairs and upstairs room is very dark. Finally both girls went to sleep and we vowed to get flashlights or something that would work on the stairs for our stay.

Saying goodbye to Becky and Megan