The thought of camping is usually an exciting prospect for us. More recently, however, we've had some rather odd experiences with it. For instance, just this past Friday night Kyle and I met a couple of friends for what was to be a weekend camp out. We should have known as soon as we arrived, that we were destined for more of a misadventure. For starters, the site that looked large and spacious on the internet, was in fact very small and compact. (Where would we put all of the tents?) In addition, there was a sign on the Kiosk informing us that refunds were not given for windy conditions. (Guess wind is a common issue here? Sure wish we would have known that before!) The wind proved to be a problematic element for us. It was blowing both constantly and violently. Setting up the tent was quite challenging as the gusts repeatedly tried to knock us off balance and blow our tent away. We were victorious in our battle, though the wind continued to put a damper on our planned festivities. To top it all off, after we finally went to "bed" at around 10 p.m., some new neighbors arrived, who proceeded to have a loud, obnoxious conversation while listening to their blaring radio until the wee hours of the night. Argh....Kyle finally asked them to quiet down, though at that point many precious hours of sleep had already passed us by. Instead of daring to endure another night there, we packed up in the morning and optimistically pursued another campground further north. That place, however, was rather booked up and still very windy. Ultimately, it was our lack of sleep that prompted us to abandon our camping pursuits and instead return to Santa Barbara for a barbecue and then some much needed rest. On the way back to town, we stopped at a random spot on the 101 and discovered a little trail down to a secluded beach. Walking along the shore reminded me of being in Oregon, as there wasn't development in that stretch of land and we were the only ones there. What a fabulous treat after an intense 24 hours of sleeplessness and feeling windblown. There was one major positive with regard to the wind...no bugs bothered us! Guess every cloud has a silver lining afterall.
