Labor Day weekend our objective is South Dakota. Ever the road trippers to try new roads, we skirt into the most western corner of Oklahoma for a few miles before turning north to travel the easternmost roads of Colorado out on the Great Plains. In Nebraska, we pass fields of sunflowers under cloudy skies. South Dakota welcomes us with a visit to Wall Drug which was far more interesting than the Crazy Horse Monument. Our visit to the Badlands National Park was marred by bad weather, which demanded we make a return visit. We stay out on the Plains across Wyoming, making our way back across Colorado into Utah, where we visit the world’s ugliest Donkey at Hole in the Rock.
Santa Barbara, California – Day 3
This is the San Marcos Pass Road – Route 154 heading out of Santa Barbara into the Los Padres National Forest. We come up this way occasionally to eat breakfast at Cold Spring Tavern, just as we did this morning. To change things up a bit, we drove the much more narrow and steep Old San Marcos Road back into Santa Barbara with my Aunt and Uncle Burns.
Dropping a few photos of the inside of our aunt and uncle’s home so we never forget the old familiar site of staying at 288 Placer Drive in Goleta, California.
Uncle Woody in his dining room that’s barely changed in 35 years.
The TV changed, but everything else is just the way I remember it when I first visited in 1970 or so.
After another short visit to the Santa Barbara area, it was time to stop at the beach.
The beach and a nearby estuary.
And maybe some more beach so we can capture the Channel Islands behind Caroline, as this is a spectacularly clear day.
When I was a kid, Highway 101 was a single lane in each direction. We are going home.
Wow, neither of us has seen a VW Thing in a long time. We are passing through downtown Los Angeles, driving east.
We have options regarding the roads we can take through L.A. on our way to Arizona, and today it was Interstate 60, so Caroline could do some shopping in a small Asian plaza we love and grab a couple of green-tea-with-green-apple-and-boba teas at Ten Ren’s Tea Time, a big time favorite!
Santa Barbara, California – Day 2
Good morning, Uncle Woody.
You might have called this a dog day. Sure, we hit all the important favorites like Cajun Kitchen, Costco, Vons, and maybe even McDonald’s for a coffee, but it was more about taking Sophie out for walks and just hanging out at the house and chatting the day away. Sophie was my uncle Woody’s shepherd that was given to him after his Rottweiler Sarge passed away.
Santa Barbara, California – Day 1
We can only be on Interstate 10 at the San Gorgonio Pass wind farm going west, and from the title, you already know we are heading out to Santa Barbara, California.
Bye Jay
Jay Patel, in the center of the photo, is leaving Arizona to move back to India. After more than four years in America and extending his visa as long as he could, he’d reached the end of his extensions and had to leave. Jay made some lifelong friends in Arizona, which brought out many tears here at the last minute as everyone said goodbye.
Goth Bowling
It’s Saturday night in Phoenix, Arizona; what you gonna do? How about coloring our hair and putting on some dark lipstick and eyeliner for a night of Goth Bowling? That sounds like a great idea; get out your blackest clothes, and let’s go freak out the locals on a summer night.
Okay, did anyone give Rinku any lessons on how to throw the ball down the lane?
The sad looks reflect their sad scores, but don’t let the tears fool you; we all had great fun.