Sunday, June 11, 2006

recreation


Despite my laryngitis, I had a fun-filled weekend.

Saturday we spontaneously decided to be tourists. With John coming in a month (?!), we won't have many road trip opportunities left in the near future.

So we drove out to Santa Barbara--much more beautiful than the old TV show I vaguely remember from my childhood. We found rockstar parking near a nice coffee shop downtown. I walked under the most architecturally beautiful underpass I've ever seen. If I'd had a camera, I would have taken these photos. Except that we opted out of the sea lion boat tour. Laura is still weirded out by sand--touching it, walking on it, and especially getting it in her shoes.

After a quick bite of fish and chips on the wharf, we stopped by the Mission. Local schools had decorated the front drive with amazing chalk art. Although the link above has some nice pictures, it's missing the serene courtyard garden and the mossy palm tree cemetery. Considering we spent $12 total on our trip, this was definitely worth $8.

Today we discovered that the park closest to our house is hidden behind a daycare and a horse-field. I know there's probably a more appropriate name for the area of dirt where horses go to prance around, but I don't know what that is.

The park consists of the horse stuff, a soccer field, a small open field, a playground set for kids in elementary school and daredevil toddlers, something with lots of small posts that I couldn't figure out, and an area that was being used today as a competitive RC car racetrack complete with many impressive jumps.

We hung out in the soccer field, taking turns to see who could make the glider take the biggest nosedive. It's a beautiful little toy with purple and orange flames. We'll be lucky if it lasts through the summer. Then the little one wandered over to the edge of the racetrack to watch the cars up-close through the chain link fence. It's probably the closest I'll ever get to the Indy 500. Given the circumstances, I can't imagine a trip to Indianapolis could be any more fun.

9 Comments:

Blogger Notsocranky Yankee said...

Sounds like a great weekend! Glad to hear you found rockstar parking. When we lived in Atlanta, the supermarket where I shopped had a "pregnant parking" spot. When I got pregnant, I was psyched about getting to use it, but they took the sign down to fix it(so I was told) and it didn't come back until after Bob was born. I felt gyped!

(I think the horse-track term you are looking for is a "ring". I like how you said, "area of dirt where horses go to prance around,". That made me laugh.)

4:55 AM  
Blogger Jessica said...

Oooh, pregnant parking sounds like a great idea!

5:54 AM  
Blogger United We Lay said...

John's a good name. I think we've settled on Julian Makenzie. We need somethign Iriah and Colombian. Julina is nice and translates. Other top list names are Sebastian, Alejandro, and Esteban.

6:41 AM  
Blogger Mad Housewife said...

Sorry to read about the bug in your throat, but it sounds like you did have a nice weekend. We also played in the sand over the weekend. My daughter doesn't have a problem with the sad so much as she does with the ocean. That chalk picture on the sidewalk in your photo is amazing! So vibrant and colorful! Hope you have a great week!

6:50 AM  
Blogger Colleen said...

what a fun day!! i love days like that. hope you get your voice back soon!

9:01 AM  
Blogger Old Man Rich said...

A bright, bright bright sunshiny day. Although with a bad throat possibly your more Louis Armstong. but still ... what a wonderfull world.

9:22 AM  
Blogger Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Oh that's weird, seeing Santa Barbara again, I visited when me and my dad drove across America and it was some a beautiful place, I remember that mission and dipping my fingers into the fountains.

11:07 AM  
Blogger Balloon Pirate said...

Nice. I spent my weekend digging up weeds and killing ants.

But it was ok in its own way.

Yeharr

1:06 PM  
Blogger mal said...

I grew up at the other end of the county in Santa Maria. One of my sibs lives in Santa Barbara. I think it is one of the most beautiful places in California

5:39 AM  

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