Friday, August 10, 2018
Betsy’s brother-in-law, Art, his son, Parker, and Art’s son-in-law, Garth are in their own rights talented fishermen. A couple of fly rods had been brought along on this trip. This morning, Art was up early heading to the beach at low tide to “toss a couple of flies” in the inlet and to make his heart starter—coffee, at the other rental house.
I should add that Abby and Art’s daughter, Ashley, is no slouch with a fly rod, and she has the photos to prove it. But, on this trip, in between beach time, Ashley has been giving her attention to a project for a graduate level class she is taking. It is crunch time for getting this completed.
Betsy, Elizabeth, and I decided to try a different restaurant for breakfast. We ended up at Jack’s Bistro and Famous Bagels, a local favorite with a really diverse menu and large framed black and white photos that capture some of the region’s history.
Breakfast was good, and I enjoyed every bite of my Veggie B-ggl. After breakfast, we checked out a few shops before regrouping and heading to the beach.
I had three things I wanted to check out today. I wanted to walk through the Carpinteria Garden Park, the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Nature Park, and I needed to pickup some postcards.
The Carpinteria Garden Park just opened in November of 2017. It is located directly across the street from one of the houses we were renting.
Word on the street is that the space was originally intended to become a skateboard park. Apparently, the neighborhood was relieved when those plans were taken off the table.
Every inch of space is nicely used, as the park has 104 raised garden beds that can be used by individuals and organizations. There is even a fruit tree orchard in the park. Flowers and vegetables of every type are present. But what really caught my attention were two massive pumpkins that some talented gardener has been nurturing. Potentially, these pumpkins could be prize winners at an agricultural fair.
The Carpinteria Salt Marsh Nature Park is just a few footsteps away from the beach. The park has a nice layout, with good information kiosks, well maintained paths, and vista points that capture nature in all its forms. Additionally, a tidal inlet helps to attract a variety of birds and sea life.
After walking through the Salt Marsh Nature Park, I made my way down to the beach for a bit. I took one last walk down to the inlet and back, and then sat for a while taking in all of the people.
It wasn’t too long before I departed the beach and headed into town in search of postcards. The Rite-Aid sold postcards. Interestingly, only a couple featured Carpinteria, the remainder focused on Santa Barbara.
As I was walking to the Rite Aid, I noticed the homeless gentleman I had encountered on Thursday sitting on a bench. It was sunny and unusually warm in Carpinteria today, so I bought a cold bottle of water for him. When I approached this gentleman, and showed him the bottle of water, he just motioned for me to put it on the bench where he was sitting.
From there I walked back to the house, wrote out my postcards, and then received a directions assist to the post office from Elizabeth. The walk wasn’t too bad, and I didn’t get lost. Bought some postcard stamps, put them on the postcards, and mailed them.
Dinner for tonight was going to feature local pizza, a homemade tossed salad, and cupcakes. The cupcakes were in honor of Grayson who was celebrating his third birthday.
The afternoon had been moving along, but Art and I knew we had one more opportunity to visit the Island Brewery. So, we met Parker and his friend, Brandi, there for a beer. Saturday was going to be a busy day in Carpinteria—the town was hosting a beer festival.
As Art and I were leaving the brewery, we took a shortcut through an alley that splits two buildings, one holds the Island Brewery. A large door was opened along the side of the brewery. We poked our heads in for a minute to admire two copper tanks and some other large stainless steel tanks. An Island Brewery employee was there, and he invited us in for a closer look. We chatted with him briefly about the brewery and their beers, and then we headed back to the house.
Slowly, the family started to arrive. The pizza delivery was on time and delicious. Best of all, the birthday boy enjoyed his cupcake and presents.
Wasn’t too long, and the celebration was over.
Saturday morning would be busy as we had to be out of both houses by ten.
Sleep sounded like a good idea.
might be baloney 