Happy Anniversary (to us)! — It's Really Happening

It’s fitting that on August 20th, our 1 year anniversary (+11 dating years anniversary), we drove along the most romantic highway (Pacific Coast Highway) to a romantic city (Santa Barbara) for dinner at a romantic restaurant (Jane).

Our dinners were superb, and to top it off, two of the menu items shared a commonality with our wedding reception menu: white sangria, which we both drank and toasted to our happy marriage with delight; and coconut cake. Here’s the thing: Kristen was sort of bent on having the top layer of the wedding cake (which is, as you may have guessed, coconut) for the anniversary, but it would’ve been too difficult to keep cold for the 3 weeks of road that’d already passed. So, it was as if the stars aligned, and we ordered the coconut cake with big smiles while explaining to our server the significance. The server brought our cake out with an equally big smile and a candle in it. It was perfect.

We stocked up with a bottle of red wine and drove to Refugio Beach State Park to set up our camp. Our spot was right next to the beach, and we could hear the surf. Stargazing was also surprisingly good there, and with the help of her Starwalk app, Kristen pointed out Pegasus, Scorpius, and the Little Dipper, along with the usual Cassiopea and the Big Dipper, before turning in for the night.

Apparently we got lucky, because the spot we thought was empty had actually been reserved 7 months in advance for two families, but they never showed. Phew.