Santa Barbara and The Graduate

{more pics here}

Last weekend Bubba and I attended my cousin's graduation from UCSB. I was excited about her graduating. The expense to get to Santa Barbara and a place to stay...not so much. By the time I knew I was going to SB, the hotels were booked. Expedia only had one doable option: Old Yacht Club Inn...a Bed and Breakfast. I snapped it up for one night. Later on Bubba and I decided we should stay in SB two nights to make the drive worth the trip. Awesome. I figured I'd have time for a beach day. The B&B was only a block away from East Beach.

The B&B...it was cute but it was very antiquish. I won't bore you with my review of the place but if you're interested I already Yelped it.

We had really good meals at a few restaurants downtown, Matador and Pascucci (also Yelped). We had some time to get lunch on Stearns Wharf where we were attacked by a seagull. We did not have the extra time to go hangout on the beach. We drove by it a ton of times. We saw it from the wharf. We smelled the ocean water. But not once did my feet touch sand. I was bummed, but we were there for my cousin.

I'm so proud of her. She worked very hard the past 4 years and did not take her education and opportunity for granted. We attended a prestigious student award ceremony where she received a leadership/service award presented by the Chancellor & Vice Chancellor. It was the kind of award ceremony where you felt suicidal if you haven't done anything with your life. All the students who received awards seemed like amazing people with great accomplishments and bright futures. The ceremonies and commencement were excrutiatingly long but fortunately I brought my knitting to keep me busy until she was presented. Unfortunately, we had to get on the road home right after her graduation luncheon since we didn't have a place to stay that night.

Overall, a good trip (regardless of the stupid parking ticket I got on the UCSB campus...bastards!) with no major family drama. I wish I could go on more mini-road trips like that but for godsakes...gas prices are killing me.