Our Anniversary & Santa Barbara

Cory & I actually got married twice! Officially at City Hall in San Francisco and then at a ceremony with our family and friends present. We celebrate both (hey, why not) but we consider when we got married at City Hall as our official wedding date. On that Friday evening after saying our vows in the Rotunda (which is stunning and the most coveted spot at City Hall) we celebrated with our parents at Boulevard. So now, Cory & I go to Boulevard to celebrate our anniversary. It is always a nice evening. Here we are from our 1st 2nd anniversary.

For our 2nd 2nd anniversary we spent a week in sunny Santa Barbara. We spent the first few days camping near the beach at El Capitan. It was very nice. A bit colder that expected but we managed. Because we've been camping several times this summer, I've gotten pretty good at getting our gear and stuff ready for our trip. I've learned the best way to pack our cooler and food bins. Organize our gear so when we arrive we have what we need first on top so nothing has to be unpacked and therefore get dusty before our tent is up. You learn fast when what you do wrong ends up meaning you don't eat when your hungry or your pillow gets a bit dusty. However, despite my organizational skill, it is inevitable that something gets left behind. One time I forgot our can opener. That stunk because we had to get into our beans. Luckily there was a nice family that helped us out. Now we have one that is in our utensil container that is always in our camping bin. I know that I've forgotten other things but not as bad as when we went to SB.

It is my job to get our gear and food ready for the trip. It is Cory's job to pack the car. We arrived at our site. Inspected it to find the best place to put the tent. (We once put our tent up and realized when we went to bed that it was directly facing a flood light way across the camping grounds!!) We set up our tent as usual. Then Cory went to get the bedding gear. Mattress pads, pillows, & sleeping bags. I'm inside the tent setting up our pads and he calls for me and says, "honey, you know what we forgot..." and instantly I look at him and say, "Sleeping bags!" How could we have forgotten them. I was so angry. I should of remember them. Then I said to him, "How could you of not noticed that you didn't pack them in the car?" Just like I forgot them, he didn't even noticed. Cory went to UCSB and so he lived in a town called Isla Vista about 10 minuets away. He knew of a sporting good store. Thank heavens!! So we ditched our site and headed to town. We picked up two sleeping bags and headed to this pizza joint for pizza and some Monday Night Football! I love camping! Oh, and we ended up returning the sleeping bags when we were done with them!

On Wednesday we deep sea fishing. Didn't seem like we went that far out but whatever, I'm not a fisherman how far do I really know it is?? Anyhow, we had a fun time. Except for the part where I was supposed to put a live fish on the end of my hook. They had sardines in these shallow tanks on the boat and you're supposed to pick a fish up and then hang onto it as it flips and flops in your hand, desperately trying to free itself. As if it knows the fate that looms. Then, you're supposed to put your hook gently but firmly as you don't want to kill it, into a spot about it's nose. Really! Seriously? I don't think so. I couldn't even catch one in my hand let alone stick a hook thorough it's nose. They also had bits of cut up squid that I happily put on the end up my hook. We ended up catching some good fish. Actually Cory did. All I was able to catch was a tiny rock fish that wasn't big enough to keep but apparently made good eats and lots of mackerel which makes crappy eats but apparently makes good bait. So the mackerel I caught the deck hand just cut up for more bait. Oh well. The fish you caught you could keep. For $1 Casey would clean your fish for you. But because most people were staying in hotels they didn't want their fish. But because we were camping and had a cooler we took a bunch of fish back with us. We even cooked up our fish for dinner that night. It was super yummy. I've never eaten fish that fresh before.

We camped until Thursday. In the morning I made coffee and scrambled up the rest of our eggs and put all the leftover veggies that I had brought with us for taco Tuesday and made fun eggs!! Cooked up the rest of our bacon and heated up leftover potato. We had a feast! Then we broke down camp and headed to Santa Barbara to check into our hotel. We stayed until Saturday.

On Friday we went down to the beach to read and have lunch. We ended up falling asleep and when I awoke this is what I saw. I couldn't quite figure out what was going on. I look over to Cory who had also dozed off and was looking lovingly at me. I whispered holy crap and told him to look up. We both started to giggle. It was so strange that I just couldn't stop look at it. Then he flipped over. But he didn't want to squish it so he propped himself up with his knees. At this point Cory & I were just dying with laughter. It was so absurd and so funny. I figured we better leave before he heard us laughing! (The pictures are small but if you want to get a better look, click on them.)

Santa Barbara, you just gotta see it for yourself!