Goleta Vagabonding: Beautiful Days in the Neighborhood

After our long journey West, it was nice to be able to visit with Emily for a few weeks, especially to be with her on her 25th birthday! 

Emily liked her presents and John was happy with his early Father's Day gift. He had to surrender his pocket knife on our last flight, having forgotten to put it in the checked luggage.

Since Emily was finishing up her (virtual) teaching assignment for the year, as well as continuing with work on her dissertation, and California was still under stay-at-home orders, we mostly just hung out and explored the neighborhood. 

Surfer Van: We've noticed an increase in the number of female surfers. Here's one of their vans. Love the flowers (even on the wheel covers) as well as the phases of the moon!

Where exactly Emily lives gets a little confusing! UCSB is not actually in Santa Barbara. It's in a city just north of SB, which is also where the airport is. That city is Goleta, which is the city of Emily's mailing address. However, Emily lives in the little unincorporated town next to UCSB, which is called Isla Vista. 

This lovely mural was on an outbuilding of one of the neighborhood churches. 

It's wonderful to have a neighborhood where parks and the ocean are easily accessible for exercise and fresh air! 

Goleta Beach Park is one of our favorite spots to enjoy the sunset, especially from the pier.

Another favorite is the West Campus Beach Cliffs, during the day, as well as at dusk.

One thing that really caught our attention this year was the kelp forest, which seemed more prominent than usual. Giant kelp attach to rocks and grow in cool, nutrient-rich coastal waters. The top blades of the giant kelp appear as amber patches out in the water. You can see the patches in this photo. As well, there is a strand that has washed up on shore. Compare the length to the man standing in the left side of the frame. Huge!

Here's what it looks like close-up. The canopy contains juvenile fish and larvae, providing food for seabirds and fish. 

We saw a guy diving in this kelp forest, which seemed a little unsafe without a buddy, but, hey, what do we know? We learned that there are more than 750 types of organisms in the kelp forest, so he must have been seeing some interesting stuff. 

Now, it's not a visit to Emily's without an In-N-Out Burger, so John and I headed over to the drive-thru to bring some back to the apartment. We had a nice "California" experience that I wanted to share. While in the long line, we were behind an older camper truck. The truck wasn't moving through the line, because someone had gotten out to get something out of the side. A moment later, a mom appeared with her toddler. She pulled the tailgate down, and there was a potty! She put the little boy in and closed the tailgate. We watched all this with amusement, as we could see the little boy's head above the tailgate. The mom looked at us a little sheepishly and mimicked "sorry." No big deal, no one was going anywhere. The little guy finished and we gave him a 'thumbs up,' and then he waved at us. They got back in the truck and moved up. When we got to the pay window, the cashier told us the family had paid for our lunch. We got paid forward! We flashed the lights and waved out of our window, as they were up at the pick-up window, and a hand came out of the driver's side with the shaka sign. To continue the pay forward, we made a donation to Black Violin's foundation. Here's my favorite of their songs. They do some great work ... check them out!

As Santa Barbara County was moving in to Phase 2 during our visit, we were able to get out to enjoy a picnic at a winery. This time we checked out Andrew Murray Vineyards. We enjoyed a lovely bottle of rose there and had a nice day driving around the Santa Ynez Valley.

This is off of Foxen Canyon Road in Los Olivos, where there are many vineyards.

At the winery we saw a bird we have never seen before, a violet-green swallow. It was colorful and had a pretty song. There was also a flower we had never seen, the Matilija poppy, which is native to California and northern Mexico. The petals were so delicate, like tissue paper. Lovely! We also saw a weasel, and earlier in our trip I saw a prairie dog. It is fun to encounter new species in our travels.

Next up: We are off for a two-week AirBnB stay in Bakersfield.