california - day 3 {sunday}

california beaches!!

after breakfast we headed towards the water and got to see the weirdness that is a california beach. super beautiful grassy area that led straight onto the beach. ... wait, no crazy pine needled area to walk through? it was like a park and beach all in one! PERFECTION!! not to mention beautiful weather, yet again. i will note that it had apparently rained two weeks prior, which is why they had green grass; it'd be interesting to see this area when it's been dry for a long time.

ooo, and the seagulls are way bigger than florida gulls! all fat and sassy.

we also got to drive through the university area where rob works as a brainy scientist. [insert white lab coat, bubbling beakers, talking pet monkey in a fez and a cackling evil laugh. maybe.] jessica informed us that he's always reading scientific chemistry papers and it's true! i read part of one out loud and was impressed and stunned by the nerdiness. thank god i passed high school chem. and why did i think i wanted to take more by being a pharmacist? what crack was i smoking?!









the water is, unlike florida's waters, constantly freezing cold (in the 50s). so no swimming unless you have a wetsuit, or are a small child who can take anything nature throws at you.

lunch was at in-n-out burger! super tasty! i can't believe i didn't take photos. their menu has 4 items and for fast food, it was surprisingly slow to come out. jessica notes that this is because everything is cooked to order and fresh. delicious! and sadly, nowhere near florida.

onward, to the santa barbara zoo:



vincent may have gotten more photos of actual living animals this day, with his newfangled telephoto lens. he even got the stink eye from a gorilla!

[holy shit, i completely forgot to mention samy's camera! the day before, we stopped in a camera store so i could live vicariously through vincent's purchase of a new camera lens for his canon. the place looked tiny, no bigger than our living room. we get to the back and realize there's a little hall... so we walk down... and GOTT IN HIMMEL! the store is immense! wal-mart size [hyperbole] with camera equipment and accessories as far as the eye could see! it was like credit card heaven.]





so yea, there are even more plant photos than these. i tend to get really caught up in photographing plants when i can't do anything else. all the animals were too far away for my 35/50 mm.

not these animals, of course:







we meandered back home and jessica finished my awesome hand loomed scarf!



since it was sunday, vince and i had to head back to monterey for my conference early the next morning. *sigh*

we did, however, stop in pismo beach to watch the sunset over the water. we just used the gps and our iphones to find our way to the water, parked, left our shoes under the lifeguard station (i swore they were going to be stolen) and frolicked in the sand.

our mantra the whole trip was, "hey! we're in california!!" [repeat ad nauseum]







i took this photo so we could show the police what they looked like after they were stolen.





after the sunset, we had a delicious leisurely dinner at guiseppe's italian restaurant and finished up our drive to monterey. we got into the hotel at around 10:30/11:00 pm. whew!! it was a lot of driving, but worth it.

again, thanks to jessica & rob for letting us stay at your apartment!! you're like our personal california couch surfing site. ;)