Spring Blowout
After a nice wet winter, Spring 2011 brought Goleta green grass, wildflowers, flowing creeks
and wind. Lots of wind.
This was an all too common view when checking surf for the past couple of months.
Not a pretty sight, unless you’re really into flying kites.
Lucky for us, we live in a place that offers a lot of different recreational opportunities.
So when the beach is uninviting, we head for the hills.
When the creeks are raging, access to the back country can be limited.
But if you plan for it, limited access can be a blessing in disguise.
This particular day we threw the bikes in the truck and where the road ended,
the fun began.
Usually, Paradise Road on a Saturday is a circus we prefer to avoid; drunken
masses, boomboxes blaring and lots of garbage floating by in the river. But
with a closed road, the riffraff went elsewhere, and left only the turtles, ducks
and a few happy people.
Another windy beach day found us deeper in the hills.
The Manzana River was raging and there were very few people around.
Spring is the best time in the mountains. Plenty of water and not too many bugs.
Eventually, we got a weekend without wind and we managed to find some fun surf.
