So Long, Santa Barbara Summer

Yosemite & Lake Tahoe recap, sharing summer thoughts + memories, & what’s next!

Hello again! In our last post we were wishing you all a happy start to summer and now, all too quickly, here we are in late August hoping everyone had a wonderful (and not too hot) summer season.

I remember as a child when summer felt so long and special. My sister and I would ride bikes from daylight to dusk, set up the occasional lemonade stand, and use our imaginations to create melodramas for our Barbies, each day having the possibility of being whatever we wanted it to be. For us, the end of summer was marked by Target and Walmart starting to nonchalantly roll out each USD 497 school's “Supply List” and bright yellow bins of markers, crayons, binders, you name it, being placed at the very front of the store. Could they be any more obvious that our carefree, restful, humidity-filled, sweaty summer days were coming to an end?

As I get older, the seasons (and time in general) seem to go by so begrudgingly fast. Those carefree summer days I loved as a child seem so few and far between now. Perhaps this feeling is actually just the concept of growing up. Most of us do not have jobs that allow us a “summer break” although I’m sure those that do would still tell us that their breaks go by way too fast. It is not often as an adult that we have days where we truly have nothing to do. There is always something - a chore to finish, an appointment to be made, an errand to run. Maybe it is not actually the summer season itself that I long for, but what a summer break represented to me as a child - a blank page, time to be creative, no to-do list or deadlines, a time to relax.

So here Tyler and I sit at the end of another summer however, this time it feels different. Instead of bright yellow bins filled with school supplies marking the end of a season, we are filled with anticipation for the start of a new season, in the form of a new travel therapy contract - one that we hope will give us the feeling of a “summer break.” Our summer here in Santa Barbara was busy. Between our own travels and people traveling to us, we had plans almost every weekend of the summer. Summer was so much fun and allowed us the opportunity for more adventures and quality time spent with people we love - but here we sit at the end of summer and we are left tired. Drained. Our metaphorical coffee cups are empty. We welcome the thought of a break, a season of rest, and a full warm cup of coffee with open arms.

Yosemite and Lake Tahoe Trip June 23-27, 2023

Our road trip up to the Sierra Nevadas to finally cross Yosemite and Lake Tahoe off our California bucket list was *maybe* our favorite trip this year. We spent two days at Yosemite National Park hiking and taking in the absolute beauty the park so graciously offered. One of the highlights of the trip was experiencing the iconic “Tunnel View” in person. It is truly unreal and breathtaking. Ansel Adams (famous photographer of the American West) said this about Yosemite: “The great rocks of Yosemite, expressing qualities of timeless yet intimate grandeur, are the most compelling formations of their kind. We should not casually pass them by, for they are the very heart of the earth speaking to us.”

Another highlight of Yosemite was hiking up to and behind Vernal Falls. This is a popular hike and was extra busy while we were there as the waterfall was raging with power. It had been nearly 50 years since the waterfalls at Yosemite had this amount of flowing water due to the record snow during winter!

After Yosemite we headed to South Lake Tahoe where we rode e-bikes around the lake, hiked, and kayaked for two days. Lake Tahoe blew our expectations out of the water. The alpine lake itself was crystal clear and the kayaks we rented allowed us to see all the way to the bottom as we paddled. Views of the lake with the snow-capped mountains in the background looked like a painting. It was so stunning. We loved this part of California/Nevada and highly recommend a trip to Lake Tahoe if you love the outdoors or are just looking for gorgeous views and fresh mountain air.

July + August Recap

At the beginning of July we traveled to Kansas City to celebrate my birthday by experiencing miss Taylor Alison Swift perform her Eras Tour at Arrowhead Stadium. I will reserve my full Swiftie commentary for another audience (who will fully appreciate it) but what you should know is that Tyler (yes I said Tyler and no I did not coerce him into becoming a Swiftie) and I immensely enjoyed all 3 hours of singing, dancing, and feeling all of the feelings that only Taylor Swift’s lyrics can ignite.

While we were home in Lawrence we enjoyed seeing our families and dear best friends and then were on our way back to California to prepare for three weekends of visitors. We loved having Tyler’s siblings, my high school best friends, and Tyler’s parents in Santa Barbara to end the month of July and kickoff August. We enjoyed being tour guides and sharing our beloved Santa Barbara with family and friends. Each set of visitors allowed us to explore new restaurants, try new things, and fall in love with our Spanish-inspired city all over again. One highlight was Tyler and my high school best friend, Elizabeth, taking a surfing lesson together and both of them being able to ride a wave by the end of the lesson :)

Our sole August trip was back to the midwest for a very sweet family wedding to celebrate Tyler’s cousin, Anna. As we have talked about before, it has been hard not to be able to make it back home for every special event we would love to be at, but we are happy when it works out for us to make it back for the “big” special events.

What's Next

At the beginning of August I signed a new contract for where we plan to be spending September - December. We are very excited about this location and cannot wait to share it with you all once we have moved and I have started my new position. If we have learned anything from travel therapy, it is that the tides can turn very quickly and that contracts can be cancelled even once they are signed. We are praying for that not to be the case though, and have already lined up our housing as we plan to move September 3rd!

We have less than 3 weeks left in Santa Barbara - while we are really sad to leave an area that has been home to us for a year now (how did that happen?!) we are looking forward to a “summer break” during our next contract.

We hope you have found moments of rest this summer, and if not, we hope that the coming fall will bring you a season of rest or maybe just more chances to slow down and enjoy a full warm cup of coffee.

Rest is holy.

Love,

The Wandering Wrights