Birthday Adventures in Santa Barbara County

I am now 27 and I am loving it! No complaint about the change in number here, not least because I had a fantastic birthday thanks to my aunt Alice, who came down from northern California to spend the weekend with me.

We kicked off my actual birthday last Friday by heading to the San Ynez Valley, which is sandwiched between the two mountain ranges east of Santa Barbara. First, we went to the weirdest apple picking establishment I have ever visited, Seein' Spots Farm. Now admittedly, when I was looking for places to go apple picking, I stumbled across this farm, saw they had donkeys, and immediately wanted to go. Aunt Ali being of similar mind, we drove in and found that donkeys definitely took priority over apples. However, we were able to acquire a decent number of that noble fruit, pet donkeys as well as other rescued farm animals, including a tortoise, and even see a zonkey! Surely that rare opportunity was worth the trip.

Then, we headed over to Solvang, a town originally built by Danish settlers and which retains much of its Danish roots! We had lunch, walked around town and went shopping for socks, clogs, and of course, pastries! It's a bit of a kitschy place, but it's definitely very cute. To finish off the day, we went to Los Olivos, town at the heart of SoCal wine country, for an olive oil tasting and a wonderful dinner.

 On Saturday, we got up bright and early to drive down to Ventura, about 45 minutes south of SB, and board a boat for San Miguel, one of the Channel Islands. These islands, as you might guess, form a channel off the coast of Santa Barbara and are actually a national park. Thanks to the land and marine protections of these islands, most native wildlife are thriving, which is nice to hear for a change! San Miguel is the furthest island of the four right off of Santa Barbara, so it was a three hour boat ride out there, but we got to get a preview of the other three islands and see tons of dolphins (common and Risso, these larger, whitish-gray ones).

Once we got to San Miguel, we had some time to appreciate the landscape as the crew took groups of six to the island on powered rafts. There were a few national park volunteers to lead hikes into the interior, which must be guided; Ali and I decided to do the hike with pretty flowers part way and then head back early so that we could eat lunch and go swimming! The water was quite cold but not as freezing as I expected. We were able to stay in for several minutes (me twice), and it felt so, so nice. Just look at the color of the water, too! I did not expect to see this in California.

 We had about four hours on the island before we had to get back in the boat, but the trip was not over! The very informative and skillful captain took us over to see the popular seal hangout on the other side of the point, where harbor and elephant seals are all over the place. So cute! We also sailed much closer to the other islands, now that we were officially in Channel Islands National Park, so we got to see Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz (islands, not cities) pretty close. Santa Cruz was especially cool because they have loads of ocean caves. The huge, colorful one is the Painted Cave, illustrated by "mother nature in her infinite wisdom," according to Captain Dave. Owing to that man's navigational skills, we were able to go really far into the cave, even in our big catamaran!

We also managed to see a bevy of common dolphins, which I really couldn't photograph well, and the beautiful sunset. What a day!

 Before Ali left on Sunday, she took my roommates and me out for a lovely brunch not far from a very cool place: the dog beach. After we ate, the five of us walked around among the waves and the dogs and soaked in the sun. It was wonderful!

    Corey, WuTi, moi, Claire

 Laughs all around! What could be better?