No Reservations with Brett Bollman - Santa Barbara

Lora and I took another trip.....surprise. We decided it was time to take a trip back to CA. Brett picked Lora and me up at the LAX airport around 8pm on Friday night. From the minute we stepped into "The Beast", we knew we were in for a fantastic time. Brett is very much a Lora or Annemarie doppelganger......we were gabbing from the start, just like we were longtime friends.

We needed to grab a bite to eat , so headed over to 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica before we took off for the twilight drive. We decided to stop at Monsoon, a sushi restaurant. Yes, I know what you are thinking......"What? Annemarie doesn't east sushi!!!", but I decided to try something new. Of course, I did this, knowing full well that they would probably have something chicken on the menu that I could eat if I changed my mind. :) But, once we got in there, and sat down, I thought it WAS time for me to try sushi. So, Brett and Lora ordered a Catapillar (eel) Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll, and the classic Rainbow Roll. I tried them all, and it wasn't half bad. I mean, I guess with all the rice that goes into the rolls, you can't much taste the rest of it anyways. But, mark that off my bucket list. :)


After dinner, we strolled down 3rd a little more before jumping back in the truck and heading to Santa Barbara. Brett has over 5000 songs on his iPod, so we played a fun little game of Name that Tune on the way. It was dark, so we couldn't really see too much of what SB had in store, but that was OK, it made what was to come the next day even more exciting.

Brett dropped us off at the fabulous Ramada at midnight and made plans to come back and get us at 9am. I got almost 7 hours of sleep that night (of course Lora and I stayed up talking for a bit), which is more than I had gotten in a LONG time....go figure that I get more sleep on vacation than at home. :) Perfect way to start off the day - JUMP!!!


Saturday was PERFECT! The weather could not have been any better for our day in SB with Brett. First stop was UCSB. What an amazing campus....I was almost tempted to enroll just to be able to walk, I mean, ride a bike, around to class again. Not that I'd actually really want to go back to school, but it was THAT pretty there. Lora and I also got our first picture on a vacation with just the two of us, that wasn't a self portrait....and it turned out awesome. Right then, we invited Brett to join us on any of our next adventures that he wanted! Not just because he takes great pictures...he's a great guide too - just kidding, Brett. The offer still stands...you can join us on any trip....just because you're awesome! :)

Next stop was the Mission in SB. The grass all around SB was so green, I couldn't get over it. We took a little stroll in the park right near by too.....we were so excited that we just felt like clicking our heels.


We then drove up into the hills to get the view of SB from the top. The drive up was incredible, yet, we had no idea what was in store for us when we stopped. One of Brett's friends, David Jay, has a crazy beautiful house, with the most fantastic view, so, he surprised us, and we got to "borrow" the view for a minute. Could you imagine if this was the view from your balcony every day??? Yeah, I'm a little jealous.

Let's see.....we went around some more of SB, went to the top of the gorgeous municipal buildings, walked up and down State Street. Stopped for some smoothies at a local SB fav, Blenders - another first for me, I actually got a FRUIT one....raspberries and all!! It was tasty, and tied us over until our next meal. Headed over to Stearns Wharf and walked out to the pier, grabbed some more to eat at Longboard's Grill, drove over toward the beach in Montecito, had some yummy pastries at the Four Seasons Biltmore, stopped by Brett's "track house" (ha!) right near Westmont College....saw the baseball field where he pitched during college, and then drove back, with the sunset following us the whole way, to LA.


I can't say enough wonderful things about how nice it was to have Brett with us for the day, not to mention, show us all around SB, I think we wore him out. Let us know when you head to Texas....the real Texas, not the drive through Amarillo, and we'll show you around!!