Santa Barbara

On Sunday, August 14, Stefan, his mother and grandmother, and I drove to Santa Barbara. On the way, we stopped at In and Out to have lunch. The remaining trip was uneventful. When we arrived at Santa Barbara, there was a sale going on. Stefan's mother and grandmother went to look at the stuff, while Stefan gave me a tour of the hotel and surrounding buildings on our scooters. Afterwards, we joined his family in browsing. There must have been at least a hundred stalls! One man was selling yo-yo's, another vendor showing wind chimes, and many other fascinating things. There were glass octopi in all the colors of the rainbow, solar-powered butterflies that flapped their wings, balls within spinning spirals that weren't actually moving up or down, and tons of jewelery. Next, we went into the hotel. While Stefan's mom chose a room, Stefan read and I looked up at the ceiling window. It was gigantic, and there were pigeons all over it. From below, they looked like bowling pins, and watching them entertained me until his mom came back. After she came, we all received chocolate chip cookies, and we strolled over to our room. It was amazing! She had managed to find a room where, if you walked out onto the back "porch", ten steps brought you to the pool! Anyway, it was a two room cabin, and the bathroom probably could count as a room too. There was a shower, a jacuzzi, two sinks, and enough room to put in a bed. Stefan and I played in the pool, and we ate dinner in a seafood restaurant with fishes in a colorful tank. The next day, we rented a surrey, which is like a car and bike combined. We biked over to the pier, and then later Stefan and I swam once again after lunch. On Tuesday, we played shuffleboard outside, and Stefan beat me 50 to 14...horrible. Afterwards, we swam some more and watched movies. Then we went for a formal dinner, and Stefan was forced to put on a fancy shirt and blue pants. Finally, on Wednsday, we headed back home and had some ice cream and smoothies on the way. The weather changes were dramatic. We started with clear skies and hot temperatures, which dropped down to the high 60s. Then It became cloudy and windy, and finally it cleared and heated up once again. All in all, it was very kind of Stefan to invite me to such an exciting trip.