The Erickson Powers Unite!

Day 1: The oldest and youngest females in my immediate family arrive in my peaceful little ocean front town...Mother and baby sister

I pick up mom, or Marmy as we call her,  and my little sister, affectionately known as Weener, and take them over the the Beachside Bar and Grill situated on the ideal beachfront property of the Goleta bay coastline.

We dine on fine fish tacos and savory tri-tip sandwiches and walk it off with a stroll on the rustic Goleta fishing pier, before heading off to the the luxurious cheaply priced shopping offered by the one and only, Susie's Deals (where I bought the same 3 outfits and pair of sunglasses as weena....TWINSIES!)

After a brief trip to the apartment for some relaxation and refreshment we head north by car into the primitive Santa Barbara back country.

We take a pit stop at the native  Chumash Indian cave paintings near the appropriately named Painted Cave Community.

Cave drawings

meandering

We meandered around the ruins of Knapp's castle from which one can see both views of the mighty pacific ocean on one side of the mountain range and the vast Cachuma reservoir on the other.

Knapp's castle was actually a mansion built by a man named Knapp who had owned a chemical company at the start of the 1900s.

view from Knapps

His house was built in 1916, sold in 1940, and burnt down 5 weeks later.  It is privately owned property but is open to the public.

Then we stop at the cozy cabin just in time for a few beers accompanied by some light-hearted humor provided by Weener's joke app on her iPhone.

Joke of the night: What did the elephant say to the naked man? Answer: it's cute, but can it pick up peanuts?

(No I won't draw this one... and yes someone actually wrote that one...and that was probably the best joke that app had to offer).

The next day we spent the morning parked on the east beach of Santa Barbara's downtown waterfront to soak in some rays.

Trevor's outdoor office

Then the team headed up State Street to the Santa Barbara Brewing Company for, you guessed it, a couple of brewskies.

 Conveniently, the Rutgers football team was playing in the a bowl game at that exact time.  Ironically (in terms of the common misuses of the word), the bartender was also a new Jersey native.  And since we were the only ones in his bar at 1:30pm on a Friday, he turned on the audio for us.  And as an added bonus, Rutgers won!  Up stream red team RahRahRah ! 

We are #1!

Once the game was over we were invited to a friend of a friend who works at a place with access to a huge mansion on a hill in the middle of no where with an outdoor pool and hot tub for pizza, beers, sunset, and good company. 

The Adventures of Trevor and Rish

Trevor and Rish... not an unlikely pair.

When they talk of economics...interrupt?...I wouldn't dare!

 But when Trev invited Rish on a tourist-type date,

 I thought, "Of course I'll tag along.  Someone's gotta narrate!" 

The first stop on the tour is Painted Cave Road

where the views were awesome and the wind, how it blowed.

At the next destination we went for a hike.

Trevor makes Rish here, look like a lil tike.

Through the gate and onward we go....

 Although it's December it's too hot for snow.

"Look over there Rish, out there on that ridge!"

"That used to be a castle! There's remnants of a bridge!"

This chimney was built by a man named Knapp.

He was involved in some kind of chemistry crap...

 He sold it in the 40's and it later burnt down.

The following shot makes Rish look like he's from tiny town...

After inspecting the rocks...

...and playing hide and seek...

...their level of interest eventually peaked.

We left Knapp's castle and followed that Rish

to the next stop on Trevor's list.

The Cold Spring Tavern, too bad it was closed.

It used to be a stop off for stagecoaches, or so it's supposed...

 We wandered down the road to the suicide bridge,

Where many a depressed has jumped off the ledge.

(sad, but true)

 Next stop is a view of the lake.

 The scenery here really does take the cake!

Then back to the cabin for sunset and drinks

 These guys could be brothers, from different mothers, me thinks....

Oodles of Doodles and Julie's Jokes for the Deaf

This Christmas Trevor and I hung out in the woods near Santa Barbara instead of going back to New Jersey.  We rented a cozy little cabin and on Christmas day we went for a nice, long, hot hike.

original by Julie painted on the iPad

The sweet thing about an iPad is you can do almost anything on it. The minor limitation is that it requires Wi-fi.  The nice thing about being in the woods is having some peace and quiet and no distractions from the outside world via TV or Internet.  And although I love a good ol' escape from civilization, all I really wanted to do was geek it up on my new baby iPad. Luckily Trevor had the good sense to anticipate this and prior to leaving for the cabin, and prior to wrapping the presents, he downloaded some Internet-free apps that I could dabble in, or doodle with, I should say..My one in particular favorite new app is the Doodle Pad!


My artistic inspiration was pretty lame at first.  I didn't rush into anything original or earth-shattering.  I took my time...  Start with what you know...  Don't set your aspirations too high....Rainbows are a good start...

Then I worked my way into ants and wasps and a pot leaf on a picnic...

I quickly found out you could input pictures into the doodle app:

This one is Trevor's creation.  We did see wild turkeys, blue birds and a skunk climbing a cliff all in one day.  The penguin was only in Trevor's dreams...

More photo art work:

Me, Trevor, and our third wheel Kevin

Santa Trevor?

The boyfriend of my 13-year old dreams

Then we messed around with the photo booth:

and then I started drawing jokes.....

 

Here we go

A Cat walks into a Bar...

.....(this is an inside joke, sorry folks...rough start)

 A dyslexic man walks into a bra..

What do you call a dinosaur who lost his glasses?

Do-you-think-he-saw-us?

 Why did the chicken commit suicide?

to get to the other side

What did one saggy boob say to the other?

If we don't get some support here, people are going to think we're nuts!

Why was the pimp soaking wet?

because he had a run-in with the hose (Julie-original thank-you very-much)

What would George Washington be doing if he were alive today?

Meh, he'd probably be kicking and banging at the lid of his coffin...

 What time is a good time to go to the dentist?

tooth-hurty

 What do you call a priest's number 2?

Holy Sh*t.......(another Julie original..... and yes, my mother already informed me I am aware I am going to hell for this one)

 Did you hear about that cat who married the ball of yarn?

They had mittens!! (Trevor original)

What's red and smells like blue paint?

Red paint

Where did the General put his Armies?

in his sleevies!

 Knock Knock

Who's there?

I eat mop

I eat mop-who?!

Treasures for Trulie

December 22nd ...the first day of winter ... my least favorite season...the shortest, darkest day of the year.... boohoo boo.hoo.  Boo who?  Starting late June and ending late December the days are constantly getting shorter and shorter.  Everyday brings less sunlight more darkness. Less activity...more couch... Until that dreaded darkest day.  After which is my absolute favorite day of the year December 23rd.  The day that starts getting longer again! And I have half a year of longer days to look forward too!  I have survived another dark age and life is getting brighter again.  I can do more thing in the sunlight after work again.  It also means I almost survived another  holiday season.

This holiday season came and went with out the usual jingle bell-induced trauma.   I did all my present purchasing online, successfully avoided store shopping..avoiding lines, confusion, achy feet, sweaty armpits, and above all that obnoxious Christmas music.  I left the Traveling Willberries CD in the car stereo all month long.  A few days before Christmas Trevor found my cherished Harry Connick, Jr.  holiday hits sound track. I listened to it twice, fulfilling my Christmas carol needs and retired it till next year.

This year I must have been very good because my adult Santa, Trevor, bought me an iPad.... I bought him a Forever Lazy.

--drawn on the iPad--

This season's gift-giving imbalances very closely mimicked that of Christmas 2009 when I bought Trevor his first iPhone and he bought me a knock-off Kmart snuggie.... 

Now we're even...

...And fully up to snuff as far as gadgets and cozy comfort-wear goes.

I call this one Forever Trevor

I thought Trevor might get me and iPad but I wasn't sure.  He was very sneaky about it. A couple months ago I received an e-mail with the subject line "Welcome to Your New iPad!!". I deleted it immediately because I didn't get a new iPad, so it surely must be spam.   Then I remembered it's almost christmas.  Trevor had asked me some questions on whether I thought the Kindle Fire was as good as the iPad. I have no idea.  But that conversation clued me in to his thought prcoess.   He would probably maybe get me a Kindle or some other type of tablet, touch screen gadget. After thinking about the e-mail and our previous conversation I started getting excited that maybe he DID get me an iPad. I still wanted it to be a surprise though.

About a week later I received another e-mail titled: "Your New iPad Awaits!" even though I said I wanted it to be a surprise I still couldn't resist.  If Trevor had been home at the time I would have deleted the e-mail without reading it, but he wasn't, and I was curious... I couldn't resist... so I opened it... And it lead me to a porn website....Nope no iPad for me....

Leading up to Christmas day there were two presents for me under the tree.  Both of them were about the size and shape of a box that could possibly contain iPad. I fiddled around with both of them when Trevor wasn't looking...One gift was definitely a box and the other one was definitely a book.

On Christmas day Trevor opens a few presents first.  I didn't just get Trevor a forever lazy I also got him some socks, a new razor, and some other little knick knacks.  He opens his gifts.  I make some eggs. Then he says that I should open one.....The moment of truth....

I figure if the box does indeed contain an iPad, then he will give me the book first and save the good stuff for last.   I will know immediately how my day is going to go based on which one he picks up first from under the counter (where we stored the presents for lack of a proper tree).  He picks up the box....frown....  I accept that I am not getting a tablet... I open it up.... It's a book.  I'm slightly bummed that I'm getting two books after this schizo build-up I've been working myself up into.  He hands me the next present...the book.  I open it up and it's one of his old school workbooks full of shredded pages.  I have been tricked.  And I recognize his trickery.  He had chopped out the insides of it to hide my brand new baby iPad!

Nice work, T-rex....

Another  present sent to us by Trevor's parents was a characature that and old roommate drew of me a Trova back in the day....

I am pretty sure it was most likely inspired by these pictures...