It’s been a few weeks now since I’ve felt the hot sun sting my arms and the warm ocean water sting my eyes but while the tan has faded from my skin, the relaxing memories of vacation still bring a smile to my face. I’m lucky to have a cousin smart enough to live in Santa Barbara, California, she’s lucky to have met her awesome husband Ronnie, and we’re all lucky that they decided to get married down on the sunny shores of the Pacific in March. It just so happens that the wedding was scheduled to take place at the same time as a friend’s trip to Mexico (post to follow soon), so I packed the linen suit, some Paipo’s and a pair of board shorts and flew off into the sun.

California – Green, gold, white and blue

The Sierras

Industrial AG, providing BC with most of our food.

Crop circles… Aliens or people?

Gold rush

Braided

The edge of humanity

Amurrrrican skies

Downtown LA

So it turns out that Santa Barbara is an amazing city. This was my first time visiting but I immediately understand why my cousin and Ronnie decided to move there – warm temperature, sunny skies and no idea what a “polar vortex” is. This year however, it seems like these attributes could actually be dangerous as California in general is extremely dry and most reservoirs are at or below 50% of capacity. I’m no financier, but  now might be a good times to invest in some firehoses and a tanker truck…

Needless to say, the wedding was a great success while fun was had, glasses were stomped and chairs were lifted in a raucous celebration of life and love! Huge congrats go out to Ronnie and Julia and their respective families, who it was awesome to meet and/or reconnect with. All the best to everyone and thanks for throwing such a joyous party in such an incredible place!

The wedding party out for a quick jaunt in the hills

Santa Barbara, with Mendocino in the foreground and Channel Islands behind

SB Marina and beaches

There’s oil in them thar waters..

I could get used to the palm life!

The right point in SB.

The morning after the wedding started out rough with a 6am wakeup and bus ride down to the airport in Los Angeles. Then I was delayed by a minor earthquake just long enough for me to miss my flight to Mexico, had my credit card put on hold and lost my favorite hat along the way somewhere, but I’ll to that shortly. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more sunny goodness!