best. day. ever.

We’re staying in Carpinteria for the first few days; it’s a beautiful little city right on the water. Our Best Western is the BEST Best Western I’ve ever seen — it’s like a little spanish villa. We have a great little balcony right onto a gorgeous courtyard with fountains and tables and chairs.

Our rental car is (get this) a white CONVERTIBLE Chrysler Sebring. (shweet! – I’m definitely on a roll with the rental convertibles.) It’s perfect for this weather and driving up and down the 101.

We started out the day going and getting breakfast at Jack’s Famous Bagels, at a perfect 70 degrees and cloudless skies. We had fresh squeezed OJ and bagels (mine was cinnamon with strawberry cream cheese). It was so laidback, and dogs were walking by, and the waiter was very nice. Every sentence ended with “my friends?”, as in “What can I get you, my friends?”

We drove out to the beach and walked up and down taking photos. There were dogs everywhere, and people in the very cold surf. It was a gorgeous sunny day, with the ocean in front and the mountains behind. And lots of seagulls. :)

After the beach, we drove down to Ventura. We drove up and down Main Street looking at all the little shops — I needed a hat (for having the top down) and a zip up hoodie (for the cool beach afternoons/evenings. We had lunch at the Nature Grill; if you know me at all, you know I *love* red meat, but they don’t serve that so I ordered the Zen Burger. That’s a soy and veggie patty on wheat bun with garlic mayo and bean sprouts with lettuce and tomato and a side of blue corn chips. It was delicious.

We walked down Main Street after lunch, stopping at a little brewery that had some fantastic art displayed outside ($1100 a piece!) in preparation for the Main St. Art Walk that evening. We went in to have a beer and stupidly chose the Pierpont IPA. (At this point Sandoval is probably rolling on the floor, knowing how I don’t like my beer to taste like beer, and also knowing that IPAs are highest on alcohol content and International Bittering Units.) What ensued was every mouthful eliciting the most entertaining repulsed facial expressions from both me and JR. That beer was AWFUL. JR took it as a personal chalenge to beat that beer, so he finished his, but I couldn’t drink more than a third of mine.

Since he was now ahead of me on the drunkenness scale, we stopped at a bar where I could get my drunk on and then popped over to Best Buy to pick up the Altec Lansing IM3, a portable speaker system for the iPod (thanks for the tip Chris & Claudia!). We then headed back to Carp for naps (alright, nap singular, as in I napped) and a little blogging/flickr-ing (JR) before heading back into SB for the evening.

The temp had dropped substantially by the time we reached SB, and neither of us were prepared, so we walked hurriedly around look for a good Italian restaurent on or near State Street. We decided on Pascucci, and it was the best choice we’ve ever made. Here’s the rundown: We started out with some Rieslings and a ravioli sampler, the star of which was the butternut squash and pumpkin ravioli. OMG! It was like sex stuffed in a ravioli, it was so good. Then we moved on to our entrees — I had the Pompeii; a pecan-crusted breast of chicken with a creamy caper sauce and a side of garlic and herb roasted red potatoes. It was positively HEAVENLY!!! Finish off that meal with more and more wine and some tiramisu and you’re all set to close that place down and hit the next joint.

The next joint was Wildcat Lounge, which apparently had burned down at one point and has been completely rebuilt. The lights inside this place are all red. The walls are like the tufted sparkly red vinyl that they put on the backs of lounge booths. There was fog, and women dancing in their underwear, and excellent music and a really good strong drink or 6. We had a really cool bartendress.

Great way to start the trip. I didn’t find a hat or a pullover, but that’s way OK. I’ll make that trade-off to have the best day ever. :)

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