During my spring break, Justin and I took a trip down to Santa Barbara. Justin went to college as UCSB and I had never seen the area so I was excited for a little vacation in the sun and to see some new sights. We drove about halfway on Tuesday (4/13) night and then got to Santa Barbara around noon on Wednesday. The area is just spectacular with the Coastal Range and the Pacific Ocean side by side. I couldn't imagine anything to make our vacation better. The first night in town we stayed at the Montecito Inn, which was a beautiful "old style" hotel.Thursday morning we woke, prepared for our hike, and started around 9am. Since the fires had completely wiped out the foliage on the mountains, the wild flowers were everywhere. Being the navigator of this expedition, I naturally took us the wrong way (most of you who know me, know this is not surprising). As I went to move trash from the big to the small pocket in our shared backpack, Justin grabbed it from my hand and shoved it back into the big pocket. I thought, "Jeez he must be mad that I led us astray." I felt bad. So we keep going the same way rather than going back down to the last junction point. We made it to a somewhat flattened out section with a view of Santa Barbara, the ocean, and of course the spectacular flower-covered mountains.
We had just about finished up our snacks and Justin said, "I have something else for you." In true Kim fashion, I was curious if there was some kind of food treat and was thoroughly confused when he said no and asked me to stand up. When he turned around with a box in his hand and said, "You probably know what this is..." I finally got a clue. After a "yes, yes, yes, yes," Justin slipped the most beautiful engagement ring I've seen on my finger. As you can imagine, I don't remember much of coming down the mountain to the car. It was like I was floating on a cloud.
We spent that night at the Fess Parker Doubletree Hotel and had a room with an ocean view booked for the night. While Justin checked us in, I was talking on the phone with my sister. Apparently, the ladies at the front desk were excited enough for our new engagement that they upgraded our room to a top floor balcony suite! Just check out some of the pictures (click on the picture above to see more).
I can safely say that the whole trip turned out to be like a fairy tale!