August 30, 2007 Shell Beach, CA and sea kayaking

Well, once again, I tried something I've never done before! I went sea kayaking at Shell Beach in California. I have to say that I am a very lucky chic! My friend, Vince, works part-time at Central Coast Kayaks. My sea kayak trip was free! And most of all, I had my own personal tour guide and photographer! haha (yes, he is a guide and a photographer, a surfer, a tri-athlete, and owns his own landscaping comany!)

I can say that I had a much better wet suit this time than the one I had when I went white water rafting out in Colorado! That wet suit was too big.

I look weird in a wet suit though!!! lol The one Vince put me in to learn to surf was cool though. It had long sleeves, etc. I wore my hair in pig-tails too. I bet I was sooo cute carrying that long-board down the beach!!! lol

Vince let me use his water shoes and a pair of water pants as well to go over my wet suit! It kept me warmer. And of course, I had a life jacket on.

Sea kayaking is amazing! This was an experience I will never forget! I have paddled before down the Congaree River here in Columbia, SC, and I have paddled in white water rafting...so I had a little bit of experience but not a whole lot. I was really proud of myself. I did good. I was a little slow, but I paddled well, I thought. Paddling takes a lot of your upper body and your core. I have also never been on a ride-on-top kayak before. The one kayak I had been in was a touring one and it had a skirt or whatever!

There is so much to paddling than people will ever know! It looks so easy! There are actually rules and things you have to learn about paddling. It's different in the sea than on a river too. And especially different than in a raft!!!

Vince and me:

I did pretty good...I hate water sports sometimes though. I'm afraid of the water. I mean, I can swim alright I guess, but I've always been a little unsure about sports in the water.

I was totally blown away by this whole experience! Thanks Vince!!!

The sights were amazing! I saw huge pelicans and got to see seals up close and personal. I LOVE SEALS!

It was so awesome out there!

You could just kayak right up to them...it was great!

We kayaked into all these caves. It was really cool too! I actually miss it. It's something I think I could do every day. I loved it that much!!! I may be visiting Get Your Gear On soon here to get me a kayak! My sis will be happy for sure! :)

I do think I prefer sea kayaking over river kayaking though!

The caves were so much fun! They were sometimes scary too, but I think that's why I liked it??? It made it more exciting.

We would paddle around to one side of the cave and face towards sea and wait for the swell. As soon as one would come in and crash one side of the cave and start receding, Vince would yell "Paddle!" and I would paddle through the cave and ride the wave, that was created by the swell, as it was receding back into the ocean. I would paddle, but the wave would help push me through the cave. Crazy! A few times, I had to use my paddle to push on the wall of the caves to get out. It was hard but fun. I'm so glad though I never went into the cave from the wrong direction! That would suck! Major carnage! haha

And if you waited too long, it would really suck b/c a wave can crash in the cave ad push you back into the cave...meaning you would get slammed into the walls. Not good.

As I write this blog, my eyes tear up. I miss my friend, and I miss Cali. I had so much fun! I couldn't have asked asked for anything more!

As we kayaked away from the caves and started making our way back to shore, I flipped my kayak! hahaha As you get closer in to shore, the swell comes up, and if you're not paying attention, the swell can flip you over. That's exactly what happened! lol Vince had taught me on shore how to flip the boat back over, but I had troubles b/c my upper body was so weak and tired from paddling. He came over and helped me out. Then I did the "belly butt feet" maneuver! lol

We approached our take out spot. Vince gave me a quick little talk and we waited for a swell. The swell came, and Vince shouted "Paddle hard!" so I paddled away towards the shore. The wave picked up my kayak and pushed me towards the shore! It was awesome! I started paddling again. I made it to the shore but my kayak turned sideways. (not good) A wave came as I was trying to get of the kayak and turned the boat over on top of me and the current was strong and started pulling the boat back out. I kept holding onto the boat! Another wave came and bashed the boat into me while I was still laying there in the shallow water. It was major carnage! I got smacked between the boat and the shore like 5 times or so! Finally, the sea gave me a break, and I managed to pull the kayak up onto the beach! (My arms were so tired from all the paddling that day and the current was so strong pulling the boat.)

I got to see Vince come in. I wished he would've taken photos of the carnage! That would've been the greatest! hahahaha Sue being smashed between the shore and a kayak. NICE!

We lugged the kayaks up the steps and took off our wet-suits and dried off. We hopped into the car and headed for lunch, had a beer and "told some lies"! It was great!

August 29, 2007 Santa Barbara, CA; Montecito, CA and my first day

I went to visit my buddy Vince out in central coast California over Labor Day weekend. We had never met face to face! It was great! He is so much fun! He has a very interesting life!

I met Vince on MySpace through another friend's page there. We instantly became friends. I consider Vince now to be one of my best friends. We just hit it off really well.

I flew into Santa Barbara. (I've never been to CA before this trip.)

The rockies were amazing to fly over! When I flew over them on my way to CO in May, it was night so I didn't get to see them.

I love window seats! This pic was taken when flying over Salt Lake City Utah. I had a connecting flight there.

The coast of California was amazing as I was flying into Santa Barbara!

At the Santa Barbara airport on my way to baggage claim:

The baggage claim area was really different there. It was outside!

My friend, Vince, is too funny! He showed up at the airport with this necklace and these hilarious sunglasses! haha It was great! He definitely knows how to set the mood. I can truly say that this guy is one of the most fun and wildest persons I know. I miss him! :(

He is just as goofy as I am! I LOVE it! We had so much fun together!

Good times!!!

It was gorgeous there! Mountains and ocean all in the same place!!!

He drove me around Santa Barbara. It was so beautiful there. California is so different from the east coast!

This is the Santa Barbara Harbor:

Vince dared me to climb this statue. lol

I'll climb anything...haha

I was ready to feel the California sand under my feet! :)

Damn! Pacific water is freezing!!! haha

I kept thinking, this is so beautiful!!! You've got mountains on one side and the coast right on the other! The best of both worlds! Who could ask for anything more???

I mean, jeez! Look how beautiful this is! I was in heaven!

There is so much more to life than the quest for Mr. Right, however, if I find him, I want him to love the coast and the mountains! I've never even been the type to have my whole wedding planned out like most girls do by the time they're 16, but if I ever get married, I want a small wedding on the beach like this or something...hahahaha

I saw some kite boarders out there just outside the harbor that day too.

We ate lunch looking out over the harbor! It was beautiful...

Vince and I just couldn't resist! This photo opp was too great! lol

I'm such a dork! Jeez!!!

As we were driving around, I saw some pretty flowers I liked:

I saw this really cool church that I liked. It was like a mexican catholic church...it was so beautiful though.

Then he showed me around the Montecito area. OMG! These homes were amazing! As we were heading up, it was a beautiful view down to the coast.

This area of the mountains was where the forest fires were going on. It was sad to see the burnt areas. However, now it gives room for more beautiful growth, but I feel bad for all the animals though...:(

Of course, at every turn, I wanted to get out and do the trails, etc. There are trails everywhere.

We saw this statue in front of a house entrance:

Looking back down at the coast again:

I kept wanting to get out explore! Each time I see a huge cluster of rocks, etc. I just have to go climb them. I'm such a kid! :)

Here we are doing some scrambling at Gibralder Peak area out in Montecito.

Vince found this cool spider web. It's the weirdest web I've ever seen. You wouldn't believe it, but we ran over a tarantula (or some freakin' huge spider) on the way back to Los Osos! It was freakin' wild! I saw this big black thing run across the road, and I started yelling at him in the car..."Oh my God, what the hell was that thing?" lol

More climbing around:

On the way to Los Osos, I had to stop and take some pics of the vineyards! It was cool. They were all over the place...growing in mass fields...all these vineyards! Pretty neat!

It was getting late. Vince and I stopped off for dinner and got some coffee and headed down to Pismo Beach. It was getting dark. It was chilly out, and when we got down to the beach, the tourist surfers were coming in and rinsing off. It was kinda neat to see.

I got to meet some of his freinds. I met Fletcher and his girlfriend, Macy. Fletcher was one hilarious guy! I loved Macy. I wish we could've spent more time hangin' with those two.

A bum approached us that night and he made me this flower thing...I forget what they are called...whatever..."10/4" "Over and Out". (inside joke) hahahaha

These were my "quarters" while I was in California. This is the upstairs area of Vince's place.

Well, I will post another blog soon with the rest of my days there! There are so many more great photos to come! I am way too tired though. I'm off to bed...