Anacapa Island
Now back in Santa Barbara a couple days before the wedding, Steve and I had some tasks to perform while everyone else was getting stuff ready. The main goal was to return the Sprinter Van to Bandago, back down in Hollywood. In the morning, after a couple hours sleep on Jimmy and Lindsey’s floor, we pulled ourselves together enough to make some coffee.
Being Jimmy and Lindsey’s coffee, I should have known how wired I was about to get. After two cups each of coffee, both Steve and I were bouncing of the walls and ready to fly down to LA. We were tearing up the 1 on the way down through Malibu. Coffee strong in our veins, we got Jimmy’s Xterra and fought traffic aggressively. With the Van returned and the rental guys jaw on the floor from how dirty it was, we found a bomb burrito shack on the corner. On the way back up to SB, we drove through the Hollywood Hills, saw the Scientology Celebrity Center and the Hollywood Sign.
That night I crashed on Day Day’s hotel floor, I got to recharge a bit here and was starting to feel good enough to go climb at the SB Rock gym. After a good burn, I met up with Day Day and his work crew from some beers in Santa Barbara. Alexis arrived late at night from her cross country flight. From here we headed down to Ventura for the night before our island excursion the next day.
I had never heard of the Channel Islands before this trip and must say they are a pretty cool national park. You can only get there via boat (we saw two blue whales on the ride in) or airplane, and each island seemed to be its own ecosystems. We went to the Anacapa Island, which is the smallest and just so happened to have a massive amount of nest seagulls. When I say the island is filled with seagulls, I mean it is filled. Every several feet there is a bird sitting on a nest with 2 or 3 chicks. The whole island erupts in squawking at your movement across the island. Dodging flying bird poop is a must and the birds will not get out the way even if they are nested on the trail. We walk the entire island slowly and it took us only about 2 hrs. A lot of it was spent sitting and eating at Inspiration Point. Funnily enough the birds didn’t bother us about our food. The island had so many birds on it, that it looked white from a far, and this is because of all the bird poop.
Sea lions also crowed and grunted along the shoreline. The island was pretty cool and had lots of fun history, with one like it used to have a herd of sheep on it, and that their only sources of water were licking each other and the plants for moisture from the morning fog.
The next day, we had out early to the San Ynez valley and the town of Solvang. The town is modeled after a Danish city, and host several amazing bakeries. I could easily get into big trouble here trying to sample all the delicacies. After a nice brunch and coffee, we visited a winery that had some very intense and wine loving women in it. After tasting, we moved on to the next winery on the way back into Santa Barbara. This winery looked the part for a California Winery. It had a tasting room built into the side of the hill, and secret room called “la CAV”. On the way back, Alexis found a awesome mountain shack that we got a Tri-tip steak sandwich. The rest of the day was filled with a wedding rehearsal and dinner on the beach with all those who would be attending the wedding. Food trucks, keg beer, and Manhattan’s on the Goleta beach where a great topper to the night.
The next morning, I had groomsman duties, and left Alexis on her own. The boys and I all were and got shaved at Ritchie’s barbershop. Well trained and friendly women took great care of us in making us wedding ready and appropriate, much whiskey was drank during the barbershop excursion. From here, we rolled down the street to meet Jimmy family for lunch. Fajitas and margaritas were the name of the game here. Rolling out of the restaurant in Montecito, we were greeted by a big black bus that had McMesta Fest written on the side. Once on the bus, we were great with pounding music and more whiskey. The rambunctious ride up the to the farm went quickly, and the dude where rushed up stairs of the barn to get ready. What followed was some nice downtime to hang out and get ready before all the photos and festivities started.
The wedding when off without a hitch from my perspective. All aspects of the wedding fit the two of them to a T. Westy Bus, Dancing, mushiness, and booze made the wedding their own. Many drinks were drank through the night from sneaky lemonade to weird Moscow mules to even more whiskey.
