Surprise!

Ok, time for more catching up...

A few weeks ago, Brent surprised me with an early anniversary trip to Santa Barbara. We were only gone for one night but that was plenty long enough. The trip was a complete surprise. He apparently had been planning it since his birthday and had even called on some friends who know SB for help. Tricky guy.

A little back story. I don't like surprises. Well, that's not entirely true. I like to be surprised as long as I don't know it's coming. Brent does this a lot. I'm not sure why but he's always trying to catch me off guard with something, which is fine, as long as I don't know there is a surprise in queue. It's times when "I have a surprise for you!" comes out of his mouth and then he proceeds to not tell me what it is or when I should expect it that it makes me a little nuts. Luckily, this was not one of those times.

He kept this one a secret until the weekend before when he told me to keep my schedule for the next Fri-Sat open but he didn't tell me what for. The next Thursday night, he pulled out a suitcase and told me to pack enough stuff for one night and one day. What?!

The next morning, he had a Dr's appointment and we had portraits (christmas gift from my dad) scheduled so after those were done, we got on the freeway and started driving. It wasn't until we exited in SB that I knew where we were headed. Sneaky boy.

Anyway, he booked us in a cute Bed & Breakfast called the Old Yacht Club Inn. We got there before check-in so we drove around SB for awhile exploring. We found our way up into the hills and the on the way back, found the SB Mission so we stopped and did a little walking around.


Then we went back to the B&B and checked in, found the gourmet gift basket on our bed that Brent had them put together for us, changed clothes and headed off to dinner.


We ate at a little place on State Street called Palazzio. It was family-style Italian. The Italian cream soda, garlic rolls and the gelato were fantastic! The entrees themselves were ok but the other stuff made up for it. There was a Christmas parade that night so on our way back to the car we caught a little bit of it. We got back to the hotel and watched some old Christmas movies on tv. Brent had gotten a tetanus shot at his Dr. appointment and so he had a fever and wasn't feeling well (in hindsight we probably should've waited on the tetanus shot).

The next morning we ate breakfast (green chili cheese souffle, quite yummy) and checked out. We drove around some more and stopped to walk along Stearn's Wharf. While on the wharf, we saw pelicans (freaky!), seals, dolphins, street artists and pirates. We stopped in the gift shops and bought some saltwater taffy, fudge and an ornament for our Christmas tree. After that we walked along the main street to look at some shops and get some lunch. On our way out of town, we stopped off at a Bohemian Cafe for dessert and had chocolate fudge cake with rose buttercream frosting. It was interesting to say the least.


It was a really relaxing 24 hours and it was just what we needed after a long, busy fall and with the holidays coming up. Plus, who doesn't like getting away with their spouse? Crazy people, that's who. And do we look crazy?! Don't answer that...