IN THE BEGINNING

3 August 2021

Our brief sojourn to Santa Barbara did not start out auspiciously.  Marta had made plans for her stepsister to move in here to take care of the dogs, as we decided not to separate them, which had not worked out well the last time we tried it.  The stepsister was vacationing in Florida and then, unexpectedly, tested positive for Covid, so she was quarantined in a hotel in Florida, which left us without many options, none of which were good.  Ultimately, Marta decided to stay home.

We got away around noon, Walt driving the first shift to Morgan Hill, where we stopped for lunch at 5 Guys, then shortly after at a cherry stand to pick up two bags of cherries to take to the party.  I forgot to let Ned know that at 5 Guys, you don't need to order more than one order of French fries.  They give you lots.

We ran into traffic delays in several spots, including one very bad one which turned out to be caused by lookie-loos (including me) checking out the very graphic auto accident on the other side of the freeway.

Eventually, I texted Tom that we needed directions to his house, since we had never been there before.  He sent me back GPS instructions, complete with a lovely lady who would talk us in from the freeway to his house.  The GPS took us on the back road up over Highway 154 past Lake Cachuma, which took us through some absolutely gorgeous areas and I was sorry that we were in a hurry and didn't stop at the overlook to take a picture, but we were so close....

Tom & Laurel's house is amazing.  Beautiful.  Absolutely perfect for their family, filled with enough rooms, closets, nooks and crannies that the girls can be involved in their own activities and not bother each other, and Laurel's father, who lives with them, has space for his own apartment.

We got the downstairs tour, and I decided my knees would prefer the upstairs tour later, but they had ordered Mexican take-out, so we settled in for dinner.  Ned and the girls planned what kind of movie they would be making over the weekend ('cause that's what you do with Uncle Ned)

We were going to be juggling the one car over the weekend.  After dinner, Ned drove us back to Alice & Joe's where we were staying, and helped unload suitcases and set up Joe's TV for me so that I could watch TV during the night and use the headphones so as not to bother anybody. . Then he took the car and went back to Tom and Laurel's.

As it turned out, I was so sleepy, I managed to sleep most of the night without the need of the television.

Ned checked in with Marta and learned that both dogs had spent most of the day by the front door, waiting for Ned and me to return.  They even forgot to bark when 5 p.m. rolled around and there was no dinner being prepard.