We went to for a little road trip for my birthday this year. We meant to just do Santa Barbara, but somehow for the second time, Santa Barbara turned into Solvang, which meanders into Santa Ynez wine country. Which pretty much is perfect.
The only thing we really planned on doing was picking Blueberries at Santa Barbara Blueberries. I planned on it at least, why that’s the only thing I had planned for my birthday… I’m not sure, but if you’re ever in Santa Barbara, you have to go there. The blueberries taste like Sprite. Amazing Blueberry Sprite.
The best part of the trip was not really having solid plans, (which usually freaks me out) but it left us open to go wherever the day took us. We started at one spot on advice from a friend, and along the way ran into ridiculously friendly locals who advised us on the best places to go next. It could not have turned out better if we planned it.
Sean and I are avid people watchers, and arguably very obvious eavesdroppers so a lot of times we sit at the bar at restaurants so we can listen to conversations and be entertained by other people’s lives. (that and if it’s baseball season, the old man in me enjoys watching baseball with a cold beer). But that’s usually where we meet really cool people. And people were just different up there. I got advice on growing a winter garden, and we met a man named Page who told us that we need to have kids… a lot of them, and soon, because we’re the type of people he wants to populate the world. Very odd, but ridiculously nice compliment.
But that’s how the weekend went. A little quirky, but mostly slow, peaceful, wandering and perfect. 
I think this shot could sell the heck out of that shirt, just saying. But the close crop is actually for an awesome online men’s magazine Sean started:
