rough draft of title header

Packed up and moved back into the RV, evacuated the cabin, and headed back to Carpinteria. The drive through LA sprawl traffic was obnoxiously slow – no accidents or construction, just the usual slow crawl. An estimated 3.5 hour drive took ~6.

Stopped at Jake and Jennie’s to return un-used snow board and gear and visited for a bit. Before the sun set we headed on, stopping for coffee to fuel a bit of night driving. Made it up to a rest stop in Gaviota. Seemed like a good enough place so we parked and spent the night.

Fabulous week spent enjoying the luxuries of house living – cooked and used as many dishes as we felt like. Saucers under our coffee cups, made cheesecake, baked a second soda bread, and generally had a great time. Luxuriously long showers (or so it seemed to us).

Cheesecake!

coffee/tea collection

On Saturday we motorcycled out Hwy 18 to the PCT crossing and hiked ~10 miles for a 20 mile round-trip. 3 miles south and at least 7 miles north on the trail.

Joshua Trees in bloom

Tuesday we went back to the Cougar Canyon trail from last Tuesday and hopped back on the PCT, hiking south to “meet ourselves” where we turned around on Saturday, completing that leg of the trail.

snack break along the way

We met ourselves!

Painted the license plate for the front of the RV, threw together a couple of other paintings, and together we created a draft of an Adventure-Some logo. We’ll look into getting it made into a vinyl sticker or a magnet for the back of the RV.

Ended up being a good hang-around day. I finished reading the current book, Ashley baked some new cardamom cookies, etc.

For Ashley’s date night this month she treated me to breakfast in bed. Reading in the bathtub while she cooked. Blueberry banana cakes, breakfast sausage, decaf coffee, fried egg over greens, and even a mimosa! Decadent and delicious!

We watched a movie, Gattica, chosen from one of the many recorded on Video Cassettes, while enjoying some decaf coffee and the cardamom cookies. Then watched Simon Birch in the bedroom.

Once it warms up we head out on the bicycles around Big Bear Lake. Beautiful views, though hard pedaling as we knock off the rust and salt from our bicycles that accumulated from the surf’s mist along the shore.

Back at the RV we grab lunch and hop on the motorcycle to go scout out the cabin. Easy enough to find and only a few miles away.

Then we head back home and hike up a trail into the mountains. It joins the PCT and we hike along the famous trail until it’s covered by snow – which would quickly soak through my running shoes. Ashley’s pretty intrigued by the trail, so it was great to spend a few steps on it.

Headed out after a quick breakfast, aiming for a nearby Target to pass a bit of time before heading up into the mountains. The cabin isn’t available till Thursday, so we have two days to travel about 40 miles.

On the way to Target a motorcycle cop pulled us over for running a red light. It was very much yellow. But you can’t argue with an officer and you even if you get the ticket overturned you still have to pay the court fees. Quite the racket the system has going. Going to see about getting it dismissed, but still frustrating.

We head on up into the mountains and look for a place in the forest to spend a couple of nights. After two 20-point turns out of private-gated roads we give up and head to Big Bear. Both of the ranger stations are closed (resulting in another 20-point turn), as is their backup, the Discovery Center. So we circle around the lake to the Visitors Center, who recommends a couple of campgrounds. We end up doing another 20-point turn trying one of their recommendations, and give up, heading to the other option. It’s a nice campground and we’re happy to be settled in.

We packed up and headed out of town. Dropped off a thank you note for Jake and Jennie, along with surprise cookies.

Stopped for propane, which caught us in traffic in L.A. Blech… Found a WalMart to pick up groceries and spend the night.

For ease of, well, everything, we decided to spend one more night here at the ocean. After some delicious coffee and breakfast, Jake, Jennie and Griffin came and picked us up and we all headed out for a hike. Started at the same trailhead as on Wednesday, but stayed along the fire road this time, granting us fabulous views out over town and the ocean. Delightful chats while we hiked – Griffin seemed happy as long as we were moving but once we stood for a few moments he would start to fuss.

Back at the car we debated about food plans – late lunch now or clean up and regroup later for supper? Ultimately we decided to head straight out and went into Santa Barbara for the Ralston’s favorite Mexican, Los Agaves. They certainly didn’t over-sell it! We sampled 5 of the 8 available salsas, passing the hottest ones, and they were all delicious! Likewise, the food was amazing! (The Ceviche definitely took the cake, even above the fish/shrimp tacos.)

Stuffed, we found ourselves back at their house for some more time visiting. As the day started to wind down, we began saying our “see ya later”s. Jennie took Ashley and our borrowed snow gear (board, jackets, boots, etc) to the RV in the car while I followed along on the motorcycle. We packed everything away and prepped for tomorrow’s departure.

Jake surprised us with some fresh coffee beans from Handlebar Coffee Roasters yesterday afternoon so this morning we brewed a cup of each to sample. Both delicious (though we both like the Guatemala better).

Jennie picked up Ashley and they headed off to yoga. Jake swung by to pick me up – we spotted some dolphins playing in the surf and Griffin enjoyed watching them. We stopped for breakfast, though Griff was far more interested in playing than sitting still so we could eat. So off to the park we went. He loved the slide, and we took turns supporting him as he slid down. The look on his face was priceless – such a huge smile!

Next to the park is a brewery and we stopped in for a drink – they have a play room so Griffin was able to check out all of the toys. One of the walls was a chalkboard, so I drew a picture of a tree. I think that Jake and I enjoyed the toy cars as much as Griffin did, if not more. 😀

By now the girls were back at the house so we went over and met them. Jake had a couple of meetings to attend to, so he had to rush off. We ate lunch, got ready for the evening’s double-date, and hung out. Theresa and Jake both arrived – Jake got ready and Theresa got Griffin.

The four of us headed to Santa Barbara to Arigato, their favorite sushi restaurant. Ashley hasn’t had sushi since she was a young teenager and I’ve never tried it, so we’re very excited. And we weren’t disappointed! The seaweed was strong, but everything else was delicious and we loved it all! We’ll definitely be enjoying sushi more in the future.

After eating we walked down State Street, the main strip in Santa Barbara. Explored through a candy shop – there were candies we’ve never heard of before as well as classics that we haven’t had since we were little kiddos. How much fun! Jake bought some “nuclear waste sours” and we had an endurance contest to see who could last the longest. All of us won (or lost) as the marketing was far stronger than the sour taste.

We finally headed back to the car and, since we had to make a quick stop at an ATM, swung into an artisan ice cream parlor for some dessert. Wow, was everything delicious!

Fully stuffed, they dropped us off at the RV and headed home. We settled into bed and were soon asleep to the sound of the surf.

Lazy morning – compared coffee making methods – aeropress is stronger than pour-over. Then headed into Carpinteria to the Lucky Llama for a breakfast bowl. Sprinkled on us on the way back to the RV, didn’t leave quite early enough.

Spent a bunch of the day reading. Nice, relaxing afternoon. Motorcycled in to meet Jake and Jennie – we walked down to BrewLab where Fire&Wine had their pizza oven set up. Ordered some of their fire-grilled pizzas and sat around chatting. Delicious!

Back at the house we sat and chatted with Jake while Jennie put Griffin to bed. Delightful conversation on quite diverse topics. He also did his best to get us to go stay for a week in Big Bear, CA. He’s got a week-long stay at a cabin there and it won’t be used by anyone else before the opportunity expires. If it’s open this upcoming week I think we’ll do it. We love cabins, it’s a new location and is apparently beautiful.

Finally, Jake offered to give us a ride home (I think he just wanted to see the RV, finally) so he toured our house when he dropped us off.