Santa Barbara business trip...and vacation time!

I recently went to a conference on Geographic Information Systems for Behavioral Research at the University of California Santa Barbara for a week. I think Bella may be a little scientist because she was ACTIVE during most of the workshops! And, since this will probably be the last time Mike and I can get a vacation in before he starts school and Bella arrives, he went too!



























The last three days of the trip were spent staying at the Orchid Inn in Santa Barbara, where we walked to the beach for our morning runs (and, yes running in the cool weather with the sea mist and the mountains in the background was stunning!) and where we walked to the downtown area for the rest of the day.















Most of the days we were there we went shopping downtown Santa Barbara and ate really really good food. We also went walking along the beach at night or early morning which was beautiful, and a nice change of weather compared to the hot, humidity of Central Texas. Here are some pictures of us at the ocean or around Santa Barbara.
While I was in class and lab all day, he was reading by the pool. So, don't judge when you see he's the one with the better tan in the pictures!
I was very impressed with the healthy-atmosphere of California. Inside the store on campus, they had every type of soy chips, hummus, veggie smoothies, and other fantastic choices of healthy nutty stuff. And, there were bicycles everywhere! I was certainly in my earth-hippy heaven!















Here's my yoga pose on the beach!! Beats Texas any day!