No traveling today, though I do have to change to a different campsite.
Here are two pictures to show you a part of the shoreline of El Capitan (these don't show the beach, which is nice and sandy).
After updating the blog at the Goleta public library, and some pizza for a late lunch, I met my good friend Nathaniel for some surfing. Nathaniel is Tom and Berit's son, born at the same time as our daughter, Jenny. So I've known him all his life. He now goes to UC Santa Barbara, and is a big 6' 3" blonde surfer dude (and serious student).
Here he is riding his bike to meet me near the "Sands" surfing spot:
The waves were picking up in size now (4-6 feet??), and surfers were coming out of the woodwork everywhere to head out. He knew a lot of the guys out there, plus one girl, Ericka, a great surfer in a yellow bikini. All very friendly with Nathaniel's old-guy buddy.Most were surfing short boards, with a lot of serious shredding being done by Nathaniel and others. I got a few good rides in and managed not to embarrass myself too much.
There are natural tar seepages along the coast here near Santa Barbara, so there's an interesting diesel smell in the air sometimes while surfing. You also have to watch out for little tar globules on the beach.
In addition there's a major fire going on in the hills right now, so the sunlight is a little yellow, and there's ash on the car every morning.
After the session, I took a shower back at Nathaniel's bachelor pad.
His place reminded me of some of the places I lived in during college, except for the wide-screen TV. The house is in Isla Vista (Spanish for "party town"), where most of the students at UCSB live. He has four (five?) roomates.Here's the loft above the garage -- no idea what they use it for:
We then walked over to Freebird's, a fantastic 24-hour Mexican food place. Great food. I ate all of my huge veggie burrito, since Lena (wife) wasn't there to split it with me. A real highlight was sitting outside in the warm air, talking with Nathaniel and drinking my Corona.
Then, by coincidence, Annika showed up. She's also Jenny's age, goes to UCSB, and is the daughter of Gunilla, a good friend who was a member of Lena's Swedish gang when we lived in the bay area.
Then back to the campsite where day five ended with a beer in front of the first fire of the trip.
