On Sunday, January 26th, we headed towards Solvang (G: 4 years, 1 month, 3 days old / C: 17 months, 23 days old).
Our first stop was at a park to look for wind to fly a kite. With no wind in sight, we headed up the pass to Lake Cachuma. I wanted to show my boys my old crew stomping ground. We also wanted to check out the water levels. Lake Cachuma is Santa Barbara's major drinking reservoir and California is in the midst of a serious drought.
We checked out the boathouse and then the boys got to play on the exposed lake floor on the long walk down to the dock (which had moved significantly in order to stay in deep water).
Graham liked searching for shells and Carter liked the soft, bumpy ground:
Next stop was the miniature donkey farm. This place was so cool! Not only did it have lots and lots of donkeys but it also had a ton of other animals that were all friendly and willing to be pet.
Graham brushed goats, donkeys, and pigs, pet turkeys, and held guinea pigs (just to name a few). Carter's favorite activity was feeding the fancy ducks:
Next up was Sunnyfield park in the Santa Ynez valley. This was not a planned stop, but when we drove by and saw it, we had to check it out.
The design was magical with towers, boats, wagons, slides, etc. The kids thoroughly enjoyed a chance to run around and eat some snacks before our next stop:
On we forged, off to the ostrich and emu farm. Those ostriches were scary! The boys watched while Nick and I fed the big birds, but Graham took the lead when it was time to feed the much more mellow emus. I felt like we had stepped back in time. Looking at those birds was like looking at dinosaurs:
And while these photos are hideously unflattering, I think my facial expressions of pure terror are hilarious:
We stopped at the famous Paula's Pancakes for some Danish pancakes, then headed home for naps.
Aw, Daddy and his boys:
Fast forward to this past weekend and we were at it again (G: 4 years, 1 month, 10 days old / C: 17 months, 30 days old).
We headed back up the 154 for round two. After a long winding road, we made it to Knapp's Castle. From Wikipedia:
"Knapp's Castle is a landmark ruined mansion in the Santa Ynez Mountains near Santa Barbara, California.
George Owen Knapp, founder of Union Carbide, built Knapp's Castle shortly after purchasing the 160-acre parcel in 1916. In 1940, Frances Holden bought the property and invited her friend, world-famous opera singer Lotte Lehmann, to move in. The mansion was destroyed by a forest fire only five weeks later, and now only the massive sandstone foundations, fireplace pillars and walls of the original seven structures remain intact. The parcel is still privately owned but open to the public."
Here is an arial shot that I stole from the site:
The location was magical. Short, kid friendly, hike to the castle, awesome ruins to explore, and spectacular views. The only problem was that it was FREEZING and we were not at all dressed or prepared for the conditions. We stayed as long as we could stand it and then literally ran back to the warm car:
On the way back down the hill, we pulled over several times to try and get some pictures of our house:
And we stopped to check out the famous painted cave. I got a picture of Nick and Carter walking towards the cave but my iPhone wasn't up for capturing the actual cave drawings, so I stole another online image:
The boys were eager for some traditional play so we ended our adventure at Tucker's Grove park before grabbing lunch and heading home. Graham and Daddy played with a borrowed tennis racquet and ball while Carter and I played on the swings and slide:
The plan was to sneak out to a Super Bowl party while the boys napped, but I think the cold weather got to them because both boys took very short, poor naps and woke up a little sick and cranky.
The good news was that we were all home and awake to watch Daddy's big moment - Sonos's Super Bowl Commercial!!
Perfect end to our second adventure weekend!
Love seeing the photos! And yay for SONOS!
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