Spring Break 2016

One of the great things about Samantha's Spring Break is that it is not at the same time as most other schools. So that means not many crowds! 

She's been talking about camping a lot lately, so I figured we'd go out to the Channel Islands and see what they're all about. It's been on my bucket list for a long time.

We started things off at Uncle Rhett and Kendall's sweet new bungalow in Carpinteria.

We did some beach combing on our way to see the sea lion rookery down the beach.

The winds were very high the day we were supposed to take the ferry to Santa Cruz island so they cancelled it. We made the best of the day by going for a hike behind Ojai at a place called Piedra Blanca.

On the trail.

The rocks were made of grippy sand stone.

Sammie blazed the trail. You could hike wherever your nerve allowed!

There were beautiful desert blooms everywhere we looked.

We went for a post hike dip in this pool. If it would have been 10 degrees warmer out it would  have been perfect. As it was it was still pretty nice!

The next day we made it to Santa Cruz Island. The dock was damaged by a storm so they skiffed us to shore.

Island Foxes used to be endangered. Not any more. We saw many of them. It's clear they're used to being around humans.

Off for a hike to catch some amazing views. This trail was made out of chalk.

As you can see from Sammie's hair, the wind was howling!

Potato Bay

Sea cave

On the way back I busted out my pocket kite. This turned out to be great fun!

If you look closely, you can see a black dot underneath the kite. That is Rhett's knee brace being put to good use as a counter weight tied to the tail. It worked great!

When we got back to the beach after our hike we built a cairn garden.

The hot chocolate was about 5 parts marshmallow 2 parts hot chocolate.

All loaded up and ready to hike back down to the beach!

The weather wasn't perfect for it, but we managed to get out and kayak for a couple hours in the morning before it got really windy. We agreed that we need to come back and do some big time paddling around the island when it is more calm.

There are sea caves everywhere. Some of them are so big you can easily paddle inside, though I wouldn't try it during a big swell.

Killing time waiting for the ferry back to the mainland.

"Hi Dad"

Not pictured, but it was great to see my good friend Jay his wife Crystl and Sammie's buddies Olivia and Emma who also live in Carpinteria. Then we made it for a night at Aunt Carolyn's little slice of heaven in San Luis Obispo. We will definitely be back for a longer visit. What a great place!