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...