May 31, 2006

• CARRIZO PLAIN & SANTA BARBARA

  so for the long weekend we decided to go camping with sheila! it all
  started about a few months ago, pat went to go get a haircut and while
  i was waiting i came across national geographic adventure magazine...it
  listed a bunch of pretty neat place to go and one of them was carrizo
  plain... so after doing a little research online and checking things
  out we decided we'd go there... we seriously did not really know what
  to expect...so we didn't do much planning... just a few days before we
  set up a meeting point and back up meeting point....

  

  FRIDAY...we packed up my car
  and headed out.... decided to take a short cut which was fun...to avoid
  the long weekend traffic and it was like a usual drive to la... but we
  turned off the 5... it was a bit weird b/c i was driving on a two-lane
  road and we'd never been through here...but it definitely was an
  interesting experience... it was windy and we drove up higher and
  higher and the animals started to come out... all sorts of animals were
  running across, up, down, any which way on the road.... and there was
  definitely a WIDE range of animals...small field mice, kangaroo rats,
  jack rabbits, deer, owls, and a coyote....the owls and coyote came out
  of nowhere...and freaked me out but luckily no crashing into them...
  the jack rabbits were so abundant it totally reminded me of the ones in
  summer field that were just laying on the road... although these ones
  weren't...but at least one or two didn't make it...r.i.p. bunny...
  anyway...after almost all the animals in the plain we made it to the
  campsite where we were meeting up with sheila... this was at about
  midnight... luckily we found her car...and ended up crashing with her
  and patch in her HUGE tent....
  
  
  SATURDAY...headed over to the
  Goodwin Education Center...found out we couldn't go to painted
  rock...but decided to follow the field guide sheila found on a
  website... we drove past soda lake and went to wallace creek where
  there's about 430 feet of offset from the san andreas fault...
  
  while hiking up to wallace creek... almost ran into this guy... yikes!
  
  wallace creek and the offset... sheila's WAY over like at the bottom of
  the hill in the background and pat's at the top....i'll see if i can
  post a better picture pat took of the offset...

  headed out of the national monument to get some gas for sheila's car
  and extra propane for the camping stove.... on the way there we had a
  nice lunch break overlooking the central valley...passed by a lots of
  oil fields...and got the stuff we needed in taft, "the best of places"....and seriously
  that's what the sign said...

  

  
  moo...a bunch of cows greeted us as we went back to carrizo plain...

  

  poking around the caliente range....

  walked around the camground a bit... and took pictures of and with the kcl campground sign and wagon...

  

  
  walking back to the campsite...and sheila carrying patch over the cattle guard....

  made some chicken fajitas and chilled....with patch...
  
  we were invited by a large group of campers across the way (that sheila
  befriended the night before) to enjoy the warmth of their campfire....

  SUNDAY...woke up to the sound
  of johnny cash, made some yummy breakfast and  did nothing... at
  one point we all just napped for a bit and packed everything up, said
  bye-bye to carrizo plain and were on our way to santa
  barbara....stopped at a turn-off  and had some yummy lunch... then
  gas and milkshake break over in ojai and finally made it to santa
  barbara

  

  nerds break... ended up turning our tongues blue and green

  
  the view from our lunch break

  showered and then headed over to the mission where there were various
  chalk drawings for a fundraiser...and there was a giant chalk mural
  with stories from japan and mexico's sister cities...

  

  then sheila gave us a driving tour of santa barbara...then we went to
  ralph's and grabbed some food to bbq...and came across $6.86 top
  sirloin steak!  talk about great deal... and it sure was yummy!
  along with corn and salad...mmmmmm...

  

  
  MONDAY...
  woke up early and sheila prepared us some tea and toast...and we just
  chilled for a bit...then she took us to ucsb to show us her office and
  around.... the views were beautiful... and yummy nachos from freebirds
  were delicious! after packing up we said our goodbyes and we were off
  back up north on the 101.... made a quick stop at mission san luis obispo but it was closed...and finally made it home safely...

  i hope i'm not forgetting anything...but i took SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many
  pictures.... i wish i could have post them all but it'd take too
  long... but it was defintely a nice, relaxing, fun, etc. trip! here's to random camping with sheila...woohoo!

  • 1:02 am
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