Long weekend in Santa Barbara

While Calvin was doing his trans-Sierra hike, I enjoyed a long weekend in Santa Barbara. We spent a lot of time in the hotel pool, some great beach time, and I even had a sleepover with Alice in the hotel.

Saturday while Leah was napping we went to the Santa Barbara Aquarium. It is always a fun place to visit.

We made a trip to Goleta beach in the afternoon. There is nothing I like better than an afternoon at the beach with family.

I should point out that Leah really loves the beach, but she wasn't at all happy about picture time.

On my way home I took a detour up Highway 1 to visit Moonstone Beach near Cambria.  When I arrived the beach was hidden in fog.

 But by the time I had finished my walk along the beach, the sun came out and it was a beautiful day.

I even collected a few "moonstones" or at least shiny stones.

Pinecrest: the 3rd generation

I seem to have taken more pictures than I thought, so here are some from camp and the lake.

This is me from Sylvan's perspective

The highlight of camp for the kids was building and maintaining an elaborate water feature.  They spent hours working on it.

 There were also some lovely climbing rocks

The lake scene looked pretty much as it did years ago.  The faces changed but the toys are the same

 

A new challenge this year was walking the logs around the marina. Cousins and second cousins all gave it a shot.

Fun but that water was ice cold

And the best part was lots of beach time

The road to Pinecrest: the 3rd generation

When I met Calvin his family had a tradition of going to Pinecrest Lake for their family vacation. The family tradition continued as spouses and grandchildren joined the family, but by 2005 it became increasingly difficult to gather the extended family so the tradition faded away. This year Katie Cowley revived the tradition by reserving the group camp ground at Pinecrest for a long weekend and inviting anyone who could make it to join the fun. Not everyone could attend, but it was great fun getting together with the greater Smith clan.

Sadly there wasn't anywhere to charge my phone so most of my pictures are from an underwater camera, but here is a glimpse of some of the fun.

 Cousins and toys ready to go 

Lunch at Walker Burger

A stop at Leavitt Falls

A bike ride down the west side

Amazingly Lorna and Cameron Calder spotted the riders and Cameron jumped out and joined Calvin Butch and Peter

 Notice the helmet hair

Donnell Vista

On the return trip to Reno we hit a few more sites

Top of Sonora Pass

Pacific Crest Trail still patchy with snow

Boot skiing

And another visit to Walker Burger

Victoria

Our last stop was in Victoria, BC.  There is some rule about cruise ships needing to stop at a foreign port before re-entering the US. We just stayed half a day.  Apparently it costs $40,000 to dock a cruise ship overnight in Victoria.  We visited Victoria last summer and explored the downtown, so we opted for a tour of Craigdarroch Castle. This was built by Robert Dunsmuir, a coal baron. It is a big highlight on the tour circuit.

The inside is full of beautifully carves wood and stained glass windows.

This is the back with Calvin and Alicia.

This is Calvin taking a break from touring

Before we returned to the boat we took a stroll along Fisherman's wharf in Victoria, had some really great ice cream and admired the boats.

Our final stop was in San Francisco, an easy disembarkation, a short BART ride, a quick visit with Bill and Cindy and we were on our way home.