A couple weekends ago I made the trip to California for a college roommate reunion. My last two years of college I lived with four amazing girls, and we decided to reunite in Santa Barbara, CA for a weekend. Aliza, one of the roommates, lives there so we were able to stay with her.
To begin my trip, I flew to San Francisco, where another roommate, Maren, currently lives and works. The night I flew in, she also picked up one of my dear friends, Michael, from the train station, as he recently moved from Milwaukee to Santa Cruz. They both picked me up from the airport and then we headed back to Maren's to drop off my stuff and get ready to go out for a couple drinks. It was lots of fun to joke and laugh with them in a little pub near her place- we even saw a Lakefront Brewery and "I closed Wolski's" stickers on the wall and Michael and I felt very at home!
The next morning we brought Michael to the train station and began our trip down to Santa Barbara. On the way down we received a few concerned phone calls from our moms because there were some big fires going on. We got concerned, too, so we called Al and her boyfriend, Luke, to figure out if we needed a plan B. They guaranteed us that the fires were far away and that everything by them was fine. (They were right, by the way!) Once we got there, our other roommates, Molly and Beth had arrived from Wisconsin and we were all ready to head out on the town.
First, we headed to a local Brewery for a beer tasting. It was fun and relaxing- and we supported the locals! After we sufficiently full of beer and pretzels, we headed to State Street- a famous strip of stores and restaurants. We did some shopping and then relaxed for an awesome Italian feast at a local restaurant. It was delicious! After dinner, we were sufficiently full and pretty tired (as Mol, B, and I are all in the CST and our bodies weren't used to the time different). PLUS, we were planning to go surfing all day the next day, so we wanted to rest up.
The next morning, after some breakfast, we went to a surf shop to rent wetsuits and surfboards. Then we headed to the beach. It was a bit of a walk from where we parked to where we climbed down to the beach, but once we got down there, it was worth it! We surfed for hours and had a blast. By the end of it, my arms felt like they were going to fall off from all of the paddling you have to do to get out to the waves. Aliza is a pretty good surfer, but the rest of us could use a couple lessons :) At the end, I slammed my foot on a rock and my toe ballooned and became black a blue. I'm pretty sure it wasn't broken, but it was stubbed pretty badly!
After surfing, we were pretty pooped, so we went back home for some food, naps, and showers! We rested up and cleaned up and then went to the pier for some appetizers and drinks. Next we grabbed a little sushi and went back to Al's and watched a movie.
The next morning Beth and Molly flew back to Wisconsin and Maren, Al, Luke, and I all went to brunch, where we had my favorite- Eggs Benedict :) Then, Maren and I started the trip back up to San Francisco. The drive is beautiful and we made a convenient pit stop at the Outlet Mall. That night we met up with Maren's parents for a Mother's Day dinner at a little restaurant in San Mateo.
Monday morning, Maren had to work and my flight wasn't until later, so I went for a gorgeous run to Golden Gate Park, had some breakfast, and caught my flight home. Our reunion was a lot of fun- and much need relaxation for all of us!
