Last Minute Trip To SoCal

Soooo..... I got put on standby for work the other week... (They didn't need all of the scheduled nurses for that shift so being put on 'standby' means you must be 30 minutes from the hospital during your scheduled shift. If they call you in, you get time-and-a-half pay. There are pluses and minuses.) Anyways, I was stuck at home and thought to myself, "I think I'll look into cheap flights online."

End result: I booked a last minute flight to LAX so that I could spend Friday-Monday morning with some friends I hadn't seen in almost 2 years (since my trip to Costa Rica--where we initially met).

How awesome is that?! I booked a flight and flew out 3 days later! My returning flight was only $99 AND I stayed with a friend the whole time. So, this little adventure was actually quite cheap.

I've never done anything like this before. ^_^ I must say, it was pretty exciting. The whole night before (I worked the night before and drove straight to the airport right after I got off), I had knots in my stomach--I was so nervous/excited. Plus, the friend I stayed with is one of my absolute best friends. Lets just say it had been a long nearly two years.)))

Because it was so last minute and I couldn't find my camera, all of these photos were taken with my iPhone. They turned out ok, though.))

So here we go, photos from my 

trip to Santa Barbara, California 

Oh.My.Goodness. This place is beautiful. I kept thinking to myself, "This city does not look like it's part of the U.S. I feel like I'm somewhere abroad, like Spain or maybe somewhere in Central or South America."

Santa Barbara is not only on the california coastline, but there's a mountain range bordering it as well. So, everywhere you turn, there's something beautiful to look at. ))) 

Walking down the street we saw a tiled bench, full of bright colors.

And arches were everywhere. The architecture in this city is absolutely beautiful.

What's a trip without doing a few touristy things? ))) Here's a few pictures of the court house. Murals on the walls, a stunningly detailed ceiling, and pretty tiles accenting the floor.

Oh! Oh! This was a lovely evening. Eating huge gourmet sub sandwiches on a cliff, overlooking the ocean at sunset. 

I did my best to take pictures of everything surrounding me... nothing cool and panoramic (too bad).. but still. Here's my view, in a choppy 360 degrees. )))

I still can't get over how gorgeous everything is in Santa Barbara.

The sunsets there are phenomenal.

The monarch butterflies were stopping through on their migration up north from Mexico. So we woke up early to check them out.

Sadly, it was too early in the morning (aka too cool of temperature) and they were all still sleeping. In the above photo, those dark cone-shaped things hanging from the trees are thousands of butterflies--sleeping. We weren't about ready to give up on them though, so we walked around for a while, hung out on a cliff, looked out at the beautiful blue ocean.... 

... laid in the ice plants. ^_^ The sun was warming up, so these plants were perfect. Nice and cool underneath you while sunshine beamed down and warmed your skin. *sigh*  (Apparently, these plants grow like weeds.) 

Eventually, the butterflies woke up. )) They were everywhere. Flying all around us. I've never seen anything like it.

Absolutely breathtaking.

Then we picked up lunch at an authentic mexican taco place. It wasn't until looking up at the menu that I realized how "authentic" this place really was.))) They had tacos with eye, cheek, and tongue... Say whaaaa?

You can't pass up trying stuff like this. You just can't. So, I asked the lady working there which was her favorite. It was tongue. I hesitated for MAYBE a fraction of a second and then said, "Tongue it is."

From left to right:

Taco 1: pork

Taco 2: tongue

Taco 3: cheek

I don't know why, but I was expecting to see tastebuds... O_o The sheer fact that it was shredded meat eased my senses quite a bit. After we finished, I was wishing I hadn't gotten the pork and instead maybe another tongue. Funny how that happened... I disliked what was most familiar to me. Tongue was definitely the best. Mm.

We had a beautiful view of the beach from the pier, where we ate our tacos.

And we stopped by a shell shop where my friend helped me pick out a Santa Barbara Red Abalone shell with lots of red and turquoise in it.

Back on the beach, there was an outdoor skatepark:

It was Sunday, so there was an art sale on the street. Very cool. The entire length of the beach had a walking path with a line down the middle, separating directions--like a street. ^_^

The homeless guy in the corner (photo below) was sculpting a soldier out of sand. I'm told that he sculpts all kinds of amazing things. Also, very cool.

How awesome would that be if THIS (below) was your bank?! Sometimes, this place didn't even feel real.... it's SO different from the Northwest (where I'm from--Portland).

What a perfect place to get away from the gloomy rain from home. The sunshine itself lifted my mood tremendously. More than anything though, it was good to be reunited with my friends. <3

Did I mention that this trip was the FIRST time I'd ever been to the state of California (not counting a layover in LAX in the middle of the night)?! Best first trip to California, ever! :D

I'll leave you with a photo similar 

to the one I opened this post with

Palm trees. Ohmygosh, I love them. <3