My birthday has always been a memorable time for me as I was growing up. One of my favorite birthday's as a kid was my Sweet 16 Golden Birthday Surprise Party, and that was already a half a lifetime ago! Time sure does fly! Now, here I sit at 32 years old, and the excitement is still there. I'm lucky because Robbie knows how special birthday's are to me, so he works hard at surprising me each year, and this year was a huge success!
I woke up on my birthday morning (Nov.16th) to Robbie holding my Travel Bingo Board (shown below, and one of Robbie's brilliant birthday gifts that keeps on giving from several years ago) and he told me that we would be going to one of these destinations during the upcoming weekend! To preface this, I already had Nov. 17th and 18th off work, as we thought we would be going to Hawaii to cheer on the Badgers Basketball team, but tickets to their tournament were hard to come by, so we scratched that plan. When we nixed the Hawaii idea, I still kept those days off of work juuuuuust in case Robbie was planning something. Ok, back to my Travel Bingo. I knew the trip was going to be just over the weekend, as we both had to be back at work on Monday. The closest destination was Solvang, CA, just a few miles north of Santa Barbara! Ding! Ding! Ding! Robbie had booked us a two-night stay at a resort in Santa Barbara, right on the ocean! He did it again with the surprise! I could not wait to leave on Friday morning!
Still on the day of my birthday I treated myself to chocolate Eclaire's, and Robbie surprised me with a dozen red roses, chocolates, and balloons! I felt loved! Later that night, we went out to dinner at a restaurant on a golf course here in Temecula. We had never been there before, and it was a really great experience! We capped off my birthday night with our friends and a DQ cake! It was a really nice way to ring in 32!
We left for Santa Barbara mid-Friday morning, and drove the 3.5 hours north. The drive took us through the northern part of L.A., and we drove through Studio City where the WB and Disney filming lots are, drove through Burbank and past Alameda Ave, bringing me back to the days of watching Jay Leno (his studio was located on Alameda), and we caught a glimpse of the L.A. skyline to the south just as we came around a curve in the road! I was not expecting that. About a half hour of the drive was spent right along the ocean which was just beautiful! We even saw Santa Claus Ln as we got closer to Santa Barbara! We had never ventured north of Los Angeles before, so this was uncharted territory for both of us.
We arrived at our resort, Bacara Resort and Spa, around 2pm! At check-in we decided to upgrade our room to a full ocean view, and it was the best decision we made all weekend! Robbie booked a Garden View room initially. Bacara was like a resort above all other resorts. The staff's attentiveness to detail was impeccable, and they answered all our questions, and were very prompt when we had a request. Being we upgraded our room, it wasn't quite ready for us upon arrival, so we left our luggage with the bell desk, and immediately started to explore the beautiful and secluded resort!
Our first stop was The Bistro where we had lunch. We were able to be seated on the outdoor patio, which looked out onto the ocean of course. It was the perfect start! I ordered a slice of chocolate cake for dessert and it was bigger than my head, and I almost polished off the whole thing by myself! After our lunch, we headed down to the ocean to take in the views, which were nothing short of stunning. Bacara had trails all over the resort, and the trail leading to the beach was so pretty, adorned with a wooden fence, manicured lawns, and sunflowers. The beach was very empty as the resort is pretty much private. We couldn't even see where the nearest house or business was located, and I loved it!
After a quick soak in the hot tub, we spent the rest of that evening in our room (we would've been crazy not too with a view like we had), watched the sunset over the cliffs right off our balcony and ordered room service, which was delicious!
Saturday morning I made sure I was awake early enough to watch the sunrise, and it was even more stunning than the sunset the night before! We walked around the grounds a little more that morning, and noticed a wedding was being held there later that evening, with the most breathtaking backdrop!
Saturday was our day to head up to Solvang, but Robbie made an exception to my Travel Bingo. Being Santa Barbara and our resort were so beautiful, he, as the Travel Bingo Commissioner, decided to substitute Santa Barbara for Solvang after the concierge advised us of what the city and resort had to offer. We didn't want to waste a half a day away from the resort! Instead, we explored the grounds more, and went on a nature hike up to a look-out point, overlooking the resort, which had amazing views! When we descended the look-out point, we walked along the beach between us and the resort, and then stopped at the poolside bar for a refreshing beverage!
Along with our 2-night accommodations came a spa package for a classic massage, so we booked our massages for early afternoon, which was 50 minutes of complete bliss. When we checked in for our massage appointments, we both were assigned lockers, sandals, and robes, and after the massages, we were also offered champagne! Talk about customer service! I did not want to leave the massage table; it was the most relaxed I have felt in a long time! Also, as first-time customers, they gave us complimentary lotions and potions!
After our relaxation at the spa, we relaxed some more in the hot tub, and in one of the 3 pools the resort had to offer! The water in the pools were the warmest I had ever swam in, which is preferred! While at the pool, we both noted how much the resort felt so foreign to us, like someone picked up a resort from the coast of Italy and put it down in Santa Barbara. Neither of us could get over the serenity and beauty of it!
Saturday evening was our glam night as we made reservations at their steakhouse called Angel Oak. As we were getting ready, a treat was sent up for my birthday from the concierge. How sweet! We planned dinner for a time after the sun had set, so we had a chance to watch it again, this time from a different vantage point. And once again, it did not disappoint! Below is a series of the sunset!
At Angel Oak, we were seated outside, yet again overlooking the ocean. We were both able to see the the sky turn from beautiful reds, oranges and pinks to pitch black. It was a pretty cool thing to see! Robbie and I both indulged in filets, 2 sides of Mac and Cheese and Mashed Potatoes, and both of us had dessert, Robbie an Apple Cobbler, and me, a Baked Alaska! I watch the Food Network a lot, and I've seen the Baked Alaska featured on a few shows. This was the first menu where it was offered, so I had to order it! Both our desserts came out with table-side preparation. Robbie's dessert was deconstructed when it came out, and the waiter put apples, cinnamon and a cream into a piping hot cast iron skillet! Mine came out as a Baked Alaska (Coconut Ice Cream covered in Meringue with cake on the bottom), and the waiter set a cup of Brandy on fire and poured it over the dessert. This restaurant got an A++ in all regards! After dinner, we had one of the staffers come pick us up in a golf cart to drive us back to our Villa (that's how they suggest most guests get around the grounds if they don't want to walk)! We had every intention to go to a S'mores party later that evening, but after our dinners, we could barely move, so we passed on that event. We settled with listening to the waves from our balcony instead!
Sunday was a sad day, as it was the day we had to check out. Booo! We saw that rain was in the forecast for Santa Barbara and the L.A. area on Sunday, so we decided to get an early start on our drive back home, but not before one last sunrise from our balcony! I was up before the sun and decided to sit on the balcony and enjoy the peace and quiet. When Robbie woke up and saw me enjoying the surroundings, he said a smile came across his face, watching me enjoy myself. How sweet!
We were going to explore downtown Santa Barbara and stop at Griffith Observatory on the way home, but we didn't want to risk getting stuck in the L.A. traffic in the rain, so we thought it best to leave the earlier the better! We ended our stay at the resort with a great breakfast buffet at the Bistro, which is where we dined on Saturday morning as well. Before we knew it, we were handed our keys and on our way home, closing the book on my incredible birthday weekend.
This particular weekend went by waaaay too fast, but we had such a great time, and it was the weekend getaway that both of us needed, just to get away from it all! Robbie definitely knows how to pull out all the stops!
"Don't just count your years, make your years count." -George Meredith
