February started out fairly slowly - well slowly for us. We had dinner with some friends visiting the area and even hosted a couple of families at the house for a last-minute bbq!
The real action didn't begin until President's day weekend when Jim, Ben and I got in the car and headed up to Santa Barbara to see Lucy! Our original plan was to head over to Channel Islands State Park but our plan was foiled when we couldn't get enough ferry tickets for the ride over.
So we pivoted and decided to check out some of the other cool things in and around Santa Barbara instead! First thing we did after picking up Lucy was to head to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. I have seen the Botanic Garden mentioned in several "Must See/Do" lists of Santa Barbara so I was happy to have time to finally get to see it. Wow! It didn't disappoint. While it isn't large, it's 6 miles of trails, labs, and landmarks packed with thousands of California native plants - they even have a Redwood Grove! All in all it was a great kickoff to our weekend.
Afterwards Lucy wanted to go check out a nearby hike called Lizard's Mouth Rock. According to her it is a fairly popular "hike" but she said it was more like a scramble over rocks once you got off a short dirt path. She hadn't ever been, but was going on both personal recommendations and an internet search. Well, we thought we were in the right place and even asked several of the other people we encountered in the area but if you compare the pictures we took to the ones on the internet, we were definitely not on the correct rock. Nonetheless, it kind of looked like a lizard and the view was pretty spectacular ... we had fun.
On the way back down to town, we drove past a turnoff that Lucy says is a popular place to have parties. Some complete with live bands. Hearing that, Jim immediately pulled the car off the road and proceeded to climb up to the top of whatever this structure is (where the live bands set up). We considered cropping out the two other guys up there with him, but we felt like this unaltered photo is probably more realistic - ha ha!
Since our original plan to visit the Chanel Islands was shuttered we thought we at the very least needed to get a picture of it in the background of one of our shots. Fingers crossed we can check that National Park off the list during Easter.
What to do with ourselves since the Channel Islands was off the table... no problem, we headed up to Solvang. Lilly had visited the area while on a camping trip in January and she encouraged us to add it to the bucket list, so we did!
Solvang is a town founded by three Danish men in 1911 who dreamed of establishing a Danish town in California. The Oscar award winning film "Sideways" was filmed almost entirely on-location throughout the town and surrounding Santa Ynez Valley which boasts 120 wineries nearby. The downtown area is filled with bakeries, restaurants, bars and candy shops along with several museums and hotels and not one, not two, not three but four windmills! One such museum was the Hans Christian Anderson located conveniently inside the Book Loft which sells many many copies of all his best sellers!
We also checked out the Old Mission Santa Inés which was founded in 1804 as the 19th California mission. The mission wasn't currently open for tours because it was the site of a wedding while we were there, but we did walk the grounds and checked out the museum gift shop.
Lilly also recommended we check out the nearby Ostrichland so of course we did. It is essentially an ostrich and emu ranch where the owners have figured out how to supplement the cost of raising these crazy birds by charging admission to tourists and also charging to feed the birds. It is a pretty good idea if you think about it. The birds were kind of aggressive when eating, but the 6 foot tall fence kept most of the them in check.
Before returning to Santa Barbara for the night, we had one more hike in mind. The Wind Caves Trail in Gaviota State Park. Before heading up the trailhead we checked out the tide pools on the beach and played with the sea anemones and marveled at how many mussel and keyhole limpets there were!
The trail was about 2.5 miles out and back that began by walking along a road then at a covered bench you turn onto a dirt track and then finally up into some switchbacks and rocky hills. There are two wind caves if you go to the end of the hike. We were rewarded for our efforts with incredible views of not only the surrounding hills, but also the ocean! The pink and purple sunsets in Santa Barbara are just about perfect.
Speaking of Lilly, guess who was also in Santa Barbara that weekend with friends - that's right - our own Lilly! Of course we didn't want to interfere with her plans, but you can't be in the same town as us and not expect to plan a meet up! Bonus, we got to meet some of her friends as well!
Lilly ended up staying with Lucy that night in her dorm and so she was able to meet us for breakfast as well. It was a great weekend. I feel like I will be able to make it to the end of March (Spring Break) now.
After Lilly peeled off to reconnect with her friends, Lucy took us on a quick tour of her sorority house where she will be living next year. She is going to have a pretty good set up!
We made it back to San Diego without incident and got home in time for Jim to be somewhat internet famous. Apparently the Genesis Invitational PGA Tour event, which is usually held at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles was moved to Torrey Pines due to the wildfires. At some point in the broadcast the announcers made reference to the nearby MCAS Miramar and the jets on that base. The stock photo they used was of a F35 with Jim's name on it! The pilot in the plane wasn't Jim. But that didn't stop all the fb comments/texts from everyone who happened to catch it on TV reaching out! Each plane has at least two name plaques on it (one on each side). The chances of ever flying the plane with your name on it isn't great, but when you are the Wing CG, the chances of a plane having your name on it is pretty good😳.
If you ask one member of the family, he would say the best thing we did in February was celebrate his 17th birthday! How in the world is our baby 17!?! He had a great day at school and the best present according to him was being able to drive the mini to school!
Of course he got actual presents as well. He requested a Kit Kat ice cream cake and while it probably needed another 20 minutes to thaw a bit, it was delicious! Thankful for neighborhood friends who came over and helped us eat it.
Winding down the month, 3rd MAW had a Commander's Conference, the last day the spouses were included and after lunch we headed downtown to get a tour of the USS Makin Island which is a LHD amphibious assault ship capable of transporting almost the entire USMC Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) including F-35Bs, Ospreys and other helicopters in addition to amphibious vehicles. While it is smaller than a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, it is still a floating city and over 3,000 troops call it home.
After the tour, we headed over to North Island on Coronado to check out the famous I Bar. Originally the bar started out as a hangout for officers stationed at NAS North Island in the 1930's. It was named due to being connected to the "I" building on base. Inside the hole-in-the-wall bar the walls and ceiling are 100% covered with patches, plaques, photographs as well as airplane models and of course beer tankers with pilot call signs on them. The bar's interior served as the inspiration for the "Hard Deck" in the Top Gun Maverick movie and the same rules apply. No cell phones on the bar and no covers allowed or you buy the room a round.
It was a perfect way to end the conference!
I can't forget to talk a little more about Ben. He decided to try a new sport this spring. Instead of the usual baseball, our boy is trying some track and field! He is currently running the 100M and also throwing the shot put. His hope is to increase his speed on the football field with the 100M. I am not sure if he will get to run any other distance. He is showing some promise with the shot put. I am still trying to talk him into giving the High Jump a try and would LOVE to see if he has any talent in the hurdles. I told him if he was going to Swansboro High School, Coach Liles would be making him try ALLLLL THE EVENTS to find the ones best suited to him. It wasn't about what he wanted to do, but what was best for the TEAM!
I made it in time to see him throw twice and come in first in his heat for the 100M. Since he doesn't have a baseline, this first track meet he is competing at the JV level. Hopefully he will get pulled up the V level so he can letter at Scripps Ranch too!
No comments:
Post a Comment