Well. This is a funny day. We woke up early in Santa Barbara. We were both pretty impressed with the atmosphere of the city and were hoping to see a bit more before we left, so we got up early, ate our continental breakfast (waffles at the Avania Inn! Mmmmm! Beats the rock of a scone I tried there...), checked out, and went for a bit of a walk. We walked over to State Street, and up to some of the local shops. I'm still on the hunt for wedding shoes, and keeping my eyes open for a dress for my sister to wear. So we popped into a few local shops and saw a few nice things, but not what we were looking for. We came upon Macy's and Ian decided to stay in the mens wear department and look for himself while I scoped out shoes and dresses. He took a look at some of the sale racks and said he could be there a while. I, silly me, figured he was exaggerating. So I went upstairs, tried on a few dresses, and found one that I thought might work... I hung onto it thinking that Ian would come up and find me (as per our usual routine) and wandered near the escalator (where he'd be sure to see me). He had told me he wanted to be on the road by 11, and it was well after 10 already. Finally, at 10:45 I was getting worried. Maybe he had come looking for me and couldn't find me? Maybe he was annoyed and waiting downstairs? So I set out on a half hour hunt for the missing fiance (that's what I had to keep telling the sales people when they asked if I was finding everything all right... I'm on my tip toes gazing around racks... "Yes, fine, just looking for my fiance!") It was me and a couple of older fellows all looking under racks and behind corners for missing loved ones. I put the dress back on the rack and wondered up and down the escalators and around the floors several times. Finally, I came across Ian casually trying on sunglasses near the bottom of the escalator. "I have been looking for you for over half an hour!". Maybe not hysterical, but I was annoyed. It was well after 11 and he didn't even seem to realize it. I could have been taking my time, too, but I had thought he wanted to go. Not so, he found some clothes he liked on sale! Now, I am happy that he found some clothes and he's always been very patient with me while I'm shopping, but he was the one who said we should leave Santa Barbara, be on the road, by 11! Anyways, it really doesn't matter very much. I was annoyed at the time but I'm over it. I'm glad he found some clothes he liked and we've agreed that next time I should just keep looking at my stuff and he can run around looking for me. He's much calmer than I am.
So we finally got on the road around noon, just to hit traffic immediately upon entering the highway. Construction I think. Boo. Drove down the coast for the last time this trip and had some nice views of the fantastic waves they're getting down here this weekend. LOTS of surfing! Didn't get any pictures as we were on the highway and didn't really have time to stop and snap. Pictures from the highway, as we're moving, never quite capture the magnitude of what we're seeing.
So this was the longest-feeling, hottest day yet (It was really only a six hour drive, seven hours with a stop for lunch and two for gas). We cut over to the I5 north of LA which we will follow pretty much the whole way home, except for stopping at our hotel tonight and tomorrow night. I am quite sure it was well over 30 degrees Celsius for much of our trip. I had the window open and it was like being blasted in the face by a blow dryer repeatedly. I was finding it hard to breath. We don't have air conditioning so it was uncomfortable. Ian is pleased with the sun burn on half his face (I offered sun block and he finally took me up on the offer, maybe a bit late). I kept wishing for cucumbers as Sue told me that slices of cold cucumbers on the forehead will help to cool your body temperature down. If we had passed a cucumber farm I think I would have insisted Ian pull over and find me one. We did pass several fruit stands. We should have gone there! I just kept telling myself "it's not that bad..." gasp, pant, bllaaaah... Drove through the mountains, dry and hot! Looks like Ashcroft. Drove through lots of fields of a variety of fruits, including mandarins (the only field kind enough to identify its produce with a sign). Saw more cows than I have ever seen in my life and smelled them more than I ever hope to again. Lots of "empty" fields marked off with "Congress Created Dust Bowl" signs. Not so good. Drove over aquaducts. Really, this day was not very high on our list of things to do again! haha I was really hoping to get to Sacramento in time to go down to Old Sacramento and check it out but we were both just too tired after our day so it was dinner at the hotel and early to bed (I hope... but there's a movie on that I was sort of watching...)
Here's a funny left-over story: last night Ian and I were walking down the street in Santa Barbara and we saw a couple that we have now seen three times on our journey!! They were on our San Francisco tour with us, sat behind us on the bus, then we saw them randomly on the side of the highway somewhere between San Jose and San Simeon on a walking path down to the ocean (and there are several paths and we were only there a few minutes). And then to see them again in Santa Barbara at like 9:30 in the evening... We all laughed and said hello and carried on our ways. It's so bizarre though! What a small world.
State Street Santa Barbara
View from the car for much of the afternoon
More of the view
No comments:
Post a Comment