Thirty-Eight

Our friends Rick and Jennifer moved to Santa Barbara earlier this month. So yesterday Adam and I went up there to see them. Adam was on his way to a retreat at a nearby campground for the weekend, and I went along for the ride, and rode the train back that same day.

We saw this odd structure under construction. It’s right across the freeway from the downtown L.A. Catholic cathedral. I wonder what it is.

Highway 101 goes right along the coast.

We stopped by Rick and Jennifer’s apartment in Goleta, near UCSB (they moved there because Rick is starting grad school there next month). Then Rick, Adam and I went to State Street, downtown Santa Barbara for lunch.

Adam and Rick

Rick showed us his favorite board game shop. When he asked the salesman (on right, speaks with a strong English accent) whether they sold card protectors, he said, “You’re a nerd. Nerd, nerd, nerd.”

Oh… and yes, they did sell them, and yes, Rick did buy them.

We walked all the way down to the beach:

Adam, Rick, Matthew

Later, Jennifer got off work, and we went by another game shop, hung out in Starbucks for a while, then went to Borders.

Rick bought the game “Bang!” with all three expansion sets, which comes in a package that looks like a big bullet.

So Adam and I were glad to see that they’re enjoying their new town. Jennifer likes the new hospital where she works, has enough game shops to keep him busy until school starts, and they have a nice place to live.

Adam left to go camping, and Rick and Jennifer dropped me off at the Santa Barbara train station. I took a couple pictures from the train on the way back:

It’s the first day of August, and several people we know are moving. Rick and Jen stopped by to leave a car here temporarily on their way moving to Santa Barbara.

Rick and Jen, his brother & girlfriend

Also, today we finished cleaning up Brent’s old room for our new roommate Jeremy who is moving in this weekend.

Brent moved to Tennessee for grad school.

Finally, two new doves moved in to our back yard when they were born this month. Here are the baby pictures:

Saturday our housemate Brent moved out. He’s on a two-week road trip on his way to grad school in Tennessee (See his blog about Tennessee). All of us in the house went the first two hours with him to Joshua Tree National Park.

Brent lived in this house for 2172 days from August 15, 2002 until July 26, 2008. That’s almost five years. He had never been to Joshua Tree, so we all decided to go with him. We went hiking near Indian Cove, then drove through the park.

Brent starting his journey

Some windmills we saw along the way

Adam, Brent, Trent, Matthew