Pure Stupor Tour 2006
Beginnings
Santa Barbara Mission/Solvang
Brunch/The Illusionist/Grocery Guy
Will Rogers State Park/Surf II
Intermission/The Dinner Guests
How Did We Miss the Mad Greek?/I Want to Rock n Roll All Night
Enroute to The Caine Mutiny/Fly Away Home
We're just back from a day on the road - go Lor's "Otto" (Auto), our faithful steed. In the cd/tape player is the Stupor 2006 theme song by Rick Springfield "Jesse's Girl."
Our first stop is Wal-Mart (sorry, don't be offended by our shopping there, it was a momentary lapse) where we had trouble finding normal water and hand sanitizer, but were successful in getting $5 or less shoes and sunglasses.
From there, we took off cross-country towards Santa Barbara where we took an egalitarian approach towards seating arrangements (except for the driver's seat of course). The person in the front passenger seat was the "DJ" (holder of the bag of music goodies) while the(un)lucky soul in the back had to pass chips, squishy chocolates, water, and napkins up front. As Lor put it, "there are certain duties and joys to being in the back seat."
We passed through Fillmore (home to a previous haunted house or so Ysa thought but couldn't be sure of as with many of her proclamations) where there was many a pumpkin patch, fruit stand, and hay stack. The objective was to reach Mission Santa Barbara before it closed.
Driving past the Mission Santa Barbara, we drove around the hills frequently slowing down to remark on how lost we were and what a happy accident it was. We attempted to take pictures of the vista but the was some confusion as to the location of the window switch and the camera. Eventually, we found our way to the grounds and visited the church, garden, and the cemetary with a large *Australian* fig tree.
Back on the road and in search of a lovely seaside waterfall, we took another wrong turn and found two pairs of jeans stuffed with straw positioned upside-down in a haystack. We took the opportunity to snap a photo with the red rooster (brought over by Jin; see recaps from pre-Stupor aka Misalliance) tentatively named Randy, the Androgynous Rooster (Lor is now protesting loudly from the floor) giving them a swift peck to motivate them back to work.
On to Solvang where bbq or someone stoking a stove caught our attention. Unfortunately, we were also subjected to the sight of another tourist rubbing her cheek (the other one). With the image of baby blue polyester overly-distressed hot pants scorched into our memory, we moved on to the "Gossip Bench" to recover (where Ysa remarked that you should only rub yourself like that when attempting to start a fire).
Later, across the street, Jin was assaulted again by Blue Pants and her equally robust companion as they slowly bent over to window shop. It was a total eclipse! Lor and Jin ducked into the pet store to regain their equilibrium.
Having decided not to re-unite with our well - but briefly - met square dancer friends at their event at the local Hall, we said good-bye to the little Danish town.
Back in Santa Barbara (minus one promised waterfall), we dined at a local natural food restaurant (naturally) and headed back. Lor led us in unsuccessful rounds of song (Jin lost it at "merrily") and then we switched to camp favorites (Jin called her boyfriend to assist at "swallowed a spider").Our fearless leader was soon found to be reposing beautifully and silently in the back seat.
Stupor on!
Ysabella