California Dreamin'

A recap of our first 6 weeks living at the beach

We are officially halfway through my contract in Santa Barbara! We have been enjoying the change of pace this contract has brought us. It has felt really good to slow down and give ourselves a break from driving somewhere every weekend. Our quaint beach town of Carpinteria has been keeping us busy between the weekly farmer's market, Avocado festival and of course the beach! We love being able to walk to brunch or dinner on the weekends and not rely on our car for all of our activities (the gas was recently as high as $7/gallon - probably the only downside to California living!).

On weekends when we have ventured out of Carpinteria, we have visited Pismo Beach, Ojai (hippie mountain town outside of Ventura), Santa Barbara, Solvang (very cute Danish inspired town) and Channel Islands National Park.

Channel Islands National Park has been one of our favorite weekend trips this contract. It is actually the least visited national park in the U.S. The park entry itself is free, but you have to pay for the boat ride to get to the islands. We visited the largest of the five Channel Islands, Santa Cruz Island. While on Santa Cruz, we spent the morning hiking to some incredible views on the perimeter. We didn't realize how much we had missed hiking so this was super fun for us!

This past weekend our landlord gave us tickets to watch a polo match at the Santa Barbara Polo Club. Neither of us knew what to expect but we had the best time experiencing something new together. Both of us were sold when they gave out free champagne on the field at halftime (other sports should take note!).

I am really loving my job placement this contract. I am working in rehab, skilled nursing, assisted living, independent living and memory care units. The campus is stunningly beautiful with Spanish style buildings, a coy pond and tropical landscaping all throughout the property (Tyler and I wish we could move in). I have really sweet patients who have lived such full and interesting lives. Something I have always asked my patients ever since I started working with adults and geriatrics is about their love stories. I have a dream of writing a collection of these stories someday... stay tuned. This is absolutely the best part of my job - I get to learn from, listen to, laugh and cry with my patients.

California has been such a beautiful experience for us so far. We feel extremely thankful to be living at the beach and constantly ask each other if this is real life. While we miss our families and friends so much, we never felt like we were actually moving that far away from Kansas (until we looked at how long it will take us to drive back home). I think that is because we have grown in so many ways this first (almost) year of marriage. We have lived in three states and have driven countless hours together. We have had to lean on each other during the ups and downs of this lifestyle and have also gotten to experience so much joy in exploring new things and places together.

I pray that if Tyler and I have the pleasure of growing old together that we can share our stories of this time in our lives with as much happiness and gratitude as we feel right now.

For now, we are choosing the high gas prices if that means we get to add a beach chapter to our story.

with love,

The Wandering Wrights