We left Boise typically late and somewhat reluctantly since the weather here had just turned perfectly spring-like and we heard it was raining tons in California. I was petrified hurtling over Donner Pass in the dark with thick fog, rain, snow, and speedy Friday night traffic. We came prepared to camp out but stayed in a stinky motel in the wrong part of Sacramento. At 11pm on Friday night all of the motel owners seemed to have been asleep for hours and also did not speak English. We wrote things on bits of paper and shoved them back and forth at each other through the window bars. I do recommend the Old Town section down by the river as a sweet place to stop off a bit and have an ice cream

We continued south to Santa Barbara, accompanied by torrential downpours most of the way and the price of gas rising ten cents per hour. The sun emerged from the clouds, the gods smiled, and we had a lovely two-day visit with our Aunt Marion, my father’s sister, who is endlessly interesting and generous! She sent us on our way with lots of snacks and books to read. We had dinner at a great place on the beach in Goleta near UCSB, such good fresh fish! We also visited the Mission Santa Barbara, the Botanical Garden, a kite flying festival and groovy State Street. We trudged for miles, sweating. We found a new shirt which someone had left lying on a planter and the girls have been wearing it ever since.