Santa Barbara highlights

Its hard to imagine anyone as happy to be somewhere as I felt to be in Santa Barbara these past few days! I was smiling ear to ear for the duration of my time here.

On Friday morning, I got to play golf with my Mom and her good friends Dorothy and Butch. It was raining when we were supposed to tee off, so we went out for breakfast instead but then the skies cleared so we played the back nine at the local favorite, Glen Annie.

 

Then I went for a walk on the beach by myself before I picked up my dear friend Denise and then both of us visited our other dear friend Polly and Polly's new baby Skyler (who was born on my birthday!).

 

Then on Saturday morning, I got to have breakfast with my other dear friend Amy and then went down to State Street to meet Eric and Kristin, who were working up in the office for a bit. We visited Chip and Georgia, my Dad's close friends who Eric now works with, and then I met Libby, Phil and Wheeler for a walk on the beach.

Georgia, Kristin, Eric and Chip

 It was the most beautiful warm sunny day, and More Mesa off Patterson was a great place to spend a couple of hours.

Phil, Libby, Wheeler and Pache (Wheeler's dog)

View from the top of More Mesa looking out at the Channel Islands

I raced back to pick up Grandma Bucky so we could make it to the Lady Gauchos basketball game. She has season tickets to the UCSB Thunderdome and the seats were fantastic! The UCSB Gauchos lost in the end, but it was a close game and really fun to watch, especially while nibbling on nachos with G-Buck.

Grandma Bucky

Self-take of me and "G-Buck"

 In the evening, I went out on the town with "the Wolf Pack", consisting of Eric, Kristin, my cousin Ryan (with the moustache) and my other cousin Wheeler. Ryan makes the rounds nearly every weekend, so it was nothing new for him. It was pretty fun.

The "Wolf Pack Hunt Mode" look

And that was my whirlwind trip to SB! I left this morning to fly to Houston for a couple of days work before going back to London, but it was so, so good to spend a few days with my beloved family and lifelong friends in this beautiful place.