The Channel Islands..of Los Angeles?

Robby and I both suffer from a very small RAM drive when it comes to the storage of short term memories.  Or whatever you call it.  And sometimes trying to recall what we did the previous weekend either ends up fruitless and neither of us have an answer...or an all out debate because we both think we did different things.  In fact, today is a Monday and when I went into the office my co-worker asked me "how was your weekend, what did you do?"  to which I had to sit there and seriously ponder for a minute, and came up with no other response other than "I can't remember."  She laughed and pointed out that because I'm the only one in the office who doesn't drink that I was the last person she would expect that response from.  But it's true.  I could not remember.  And now that I had a few hours to think and I do remember, we did awesome things and it was definitely a weekend not to forget!  So that is what brings me here, to this documentation station.

I'll start with the last weekend I can really fully remember, which is three weekends ago.  And it was incredible.  Right now Robby gets Friday's off (for a limited time only!!) so you better believe we are "acting fast" and booking our long weekends full of fun stuff.  

Robby knows I love surprises...even though I'm a very difficult one to surprise.  Why?  Because I know everything!  But I still love any and all attempts and will always acted surprise to encourage a good behavior :)  He did get me this time though.  He said we had a long weekend planned, to pack my hiking backpack, pack minimally, but warm, with exercise clothes, and that we needed to pack lunches and dinners for two days.  My first thought was that we were obviously going to a resort in the Bahamas.  Just kidding.  But I assumed it was camping trip.  And because of the way he described the timeline on when we had to be somewhere.....I started to think we were camping somewhere that required a boat to get there.  My first thought was Catalina.  But I asked if I had been there before and he said no.

Turns out as we drove north on the 405 we were going to a land I had driven past, but never really got to know before.  We entered the charming city of Ventura (that we fell in love with) only to shortly exit it via boat and head to the Channel Islands!!!  The Channel Islands!  I had no idea that they existed...and if someone asked me in a pop quiz one day "where are the channel islands" I probably would have guessed somewhere like off the coast of Florida or in Europe.  I'm terrible at geography...but they don't sound local am I right?  Actually I just looked it up and there are some somewhere in the UK.  Boo yah.

We took a charter boat over to Santa Cruz Island...and it was one of the coolest things ever!  It was like our very our private Sea World show...without the controversial killer whales.  The water was a clear blue/green and we could see dolphins swimming all around the ship.  Our captain took us to the "feeding point" where there were tons of animals swarming and we literally saw probably 50+ dolphins dancing in the waves, some were totally putting on shows.  It was so much fun and such a beautiful perfect day to just soak in the view.

A fat Sea Otter living the life in the middle of the ocean

Once we got to the island we were welcomed by something I can only explain as a mermaid lagoon.   Beautiful ocean water next to a green hillside landscape.  It was a combination of the Sound of Music and The Little Mermaid - I didn't know whether to sing The Hills are Alive or Part of Your World so Robby and I ended up singing both in an immaculate duet.  They only let a certain number of people on the island per day (about 20-30 campsites) so you feel like you own the place.  We explored to our hearts content.  We did multiple hikes that day and played games at night.  I love being cozy in the tent when it's nice and crispy cold outside.  No better feeling!!!  The next day we did even more hikes and then took the charter boat back to Ventura.  An even more exciting Sea World show was put on for us on the way back and we even saw a Hump Back Whale!  Robby's got an eye for those babies!

 

 

Once back in Ventura we couldn't leave.  We explored the cute little city and had to eat at one of the hole in the wall Mexican joints.  We both agree that wherever we end up better have an old town feel to it and have authentic Mexican food.  I love older houses and the bright white straight lines and clean structure of brand new plazas make me feel claustrophobic!  Give me some character, some mom and pop shops, some run down buildings, some bars on the windows...haha.  

That night we slept in a 5 star hotel (a Motel 6 that was pleasantly quaint) and headed up to Solvang for the day where Robby got to experience his own version of Denmark (Since I went without him last month).  We got ableskeivers and walked around town and somehow ended up in an "As Seen on TV Store" that I spent way too much money in.  When in Denmark though, right!?!  I love that place, and a good % of the blood in me in Danish so my ancestors would be proud.  Robby thinks he has some Danish in his blood too, his mom made him ableskeivers when he grew up as well, which I had never known anyone to do that but my family!

We also found Ostrich Land.  Robby was in love.

 

On the way home we hit up COLDSPRINGS TAVERN.  It's in all caps because it's something that should be shouted.  It's a really old biker bar in the middle of the woods.  That has the best tri-tip sandwiches west of the Mississippi.  A huge ethnic man sits by a large grill and grills those tasty tri tips up, puts them on a hot roll and then you smother them in this amazing sauce.  All while a 3 person band plays some old country and folk songs on banjos, drums, and all sorts of homemade instruments.  It's truly an experience.

Anyway, it was a great weekend and an awesome surprise.  And now...one that I won' ever forget.