Weekend in Paradise

You know what I love about Santa Barbara?

I love that you can have a gnarly mountain hike in the back-country one day and a relaxing time, soaking in the rays at the beach, the next day!  It was a spectacularly beautiful weekend!

Here are pictures from the trailhead of my hike yesterday. It was down, down, down about 2.5 miles, and then --ulp!-- up, up, up again.  Good hike. My buns feel it today!

We hiked down the north side, away from the ocean.

View of Santa Barbara, the Santa Barbara Channel and the Channel Islands.

View of the Dick Smith Wilderness

And today, beach day! It was fun to see some marine mammals. Here is a video of them. The first bit is of some dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). They were very active and splashy.  I think they were having a feeding frenzy. I wish I had had my regular camera with me. But I took video on my iPhone anyway. You can't see them very well, but I really enjoyed watching them!  You'll be able to recognize the species in the second bit.  And you can see the cruise ship that is parked nearby! Yay cruise ships!

Happy Mom, Happy Kids Young Adults, Happy Dogs!

We enjoyed splendid weather in early February!  On two separate occassions, I got to walk on the beach with my pups and my kids.  It is one of my favorite things to do here in Paradise!

They like to run!

Kibble found a deceased, decapitated seal.  We examined its guts.

And after Kibble's love session with the body, she had to have a good bath. Thank goodness for Wripples Pet Spa!

Get. me. out. of. here.

(All the pictures below were taken by the resident photog.)


Getting there is half the fun!

Yay! Beach time!

If I could just get these open, I can haz sushi!

It was a wonderful low tide, so there was lots of nature to enjoy!

We met lots of doggie friends, including this guy and his stick.

Wet Hobbit Puppy Paws

Not again! Pleeeeez get me outta here!

Do we have to go home?

Thanks for the pictures, daughter!

Beach Day!

We don't go to the beach too often, and even less often all together as a family! We joined the volleyball gang today. Our weekly volleyball game has been happening for nearly 20 years! We don't make it very often anymore with our various schedules. It is always a treat when we do!

It was another gorgeous day! The promised cooling did not arrive. It is still in the mid-80s to low-90s depending on where you are in town. It was really perfect at East Beach.

That's Erin heading to the buoy on the boogie board.


And back again.

Treasures

After the beachtime, we headed to the skate park for a bit.

Ocean Kev

Kevin is in love with the ocean. He loves to surf and fish. Here he is at Campus Point today.

Waiting for the next one. That's Kevin's friend Skylar on the right.

Ready to catch the Big One!

Heading out.