Sara and I loaded up my brother's graciously loaned 1986 Volkswagen Vanagon for a few days of surf, sun, friends, and nostalgia in Santa Barbara. The van came fully decked with 2 beds, a table, a stove, a refrigerator, good speakers, a festive wreath, Christmas lights, and even some mistletoe. Once I figured out the gears/clutch and adjusted to the lack of power steering, we were on our way at a peak speed of 55 mph as cars and even semi-trucks passed us by on the freeway. At intervals Sara would light up the Christmas lights with the hope that it eased road rage that might be directed at our slow speed. Eventually we made it to SB with an hour or two to spare until sunset and meeting friends, so we did a little top roping at Fire Crags, a smallish sandstone crag with great climbing and a commanding view. We climbed until sunset and then met our friends at their cozy cabin home beneath the oak trees. We slept cozily in the van amid the dark night and the sound of frogs and owls.
The next morning we did some bouldering at a sandstone boulder garden called The Brickyard perched near the crest of the Santa Ynez Mountains. I climbed some old favorites and a classic V3 I had never achieved before. We then headed down the mountains to meet some friends to surf the infamous point break of Rincon. The surf was not amazing for Rincon, which fortunately meant the water was not too crowded. I had a great time catching some long waves.
After a slow morning we decided to go for a surf at my go-to break, Devereux. Here tar naturally seeps out of the ocean floor, leaving clumps floating among the seaweed and on the beach. I got tar on my board and on my wetsuit and on my hands. Who would have thought it would be possible to be nostalgic for tar? Later we caught a beautiful sunset in front of my old house at Elwood then spent the evening at another friend's place. Too tired to go anywhere else, we slept comfortably park in the driveway.
We drove along the coast then cut through the range at Gaviota. We turned off the Pacific Coast Highway on to the windy 16 mile country road to Jalama Beach County Park. The beach is on a lost coast of sorts, bounded to the south by private land and to the north by Vandenberg Air Force Base. It features a very decadent campground with a general store world famous for their mouth-watering Jalama burgers. It's a favorite spot for surfers, and windsurfers when the wind picks up. We set up our van and easily slipped into carefree camping mode. The weather was beautiful.
The last day of our trip we decided to hike to Point Conception, the great elbow in the coast of California that has been the site of many shipwrecks and beached whales. Here too tar seeps out of the rocks in abundance so we took care to avoid. Along the way we gathered shells and colorful rocks and kept an eye out for the elusive petrified whale bone, which erodes out of the soft cliffs and makes resistant beach cobbles. For a winter solstice it was wonderfully warm and I enjoyed the sun's warmth on my bare skin and the sand between my toes. I climbed around a slight headland to reach the secluded beach just north of Point Conception. Here I found a cobble bank at the back of the beach enriched in high-quality petrified whale bone. About 10% of the cobbles had the distinctively patterned elongated cell networks of whale bone still preserved after several million years. Clearly no collectors had scoured this stretch of the coast in quite a while. As the sun lowered we reluctantly turned back, packed up, and said goodbye to this special place.
We broke up the drive back with a nighttime dip in Gaviota Hot Springs, then a tasty Mexican meal at Freebirds, before an endless drive back to Long Beach.
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