What is Carpinteria?

Oh man, that's a loaded question.  If you are an Escalante fan or friend, you have surely heard of Carpinteria by now.  Carpinteria was probably one of Elliott's first few words.  We have been going there since Elliott was still in my womb (sorry I just said womb... twice.).  So we just got back from a little vacation time in Carpinteria--and by that, I mean three weeks or so ago.  David took some beautiful pictures and I of course would love to show them to you, but have been at a loss over what to say.  I've posted about Carpinteria a few times before.  I don't want to bore you, you know?  But... I really want to show you those photos.  So, let me tell you a few things about Carpinteria as opposed to again telling you about how we laid by the shore and got a tan, waded in the tide pools, saw the seals, went to the old candy shop, ate chocolate bananas, rode bicycles, had campfires, and roasted 'smores...  Because that can just get old.

So what is Carpinteria, anyway?  Well...  Carpinteria is:

>A tiny surf town just outside of the well known Santa Barbara
>Elliott's all time favorite place on earth
>A town with only 2 stoplights
>A town in which residents send each other "halos and pitchforks" in the local paper for noticeably good, bad, or annoying deeds
>Home of Reality
>Possessing the "Safest Beach in the World"

>A town where "the locals" definitely do not use leashes on their surfboards
>Boasting a beach with naturally occuring surface tar in the water and huge tar deposits on the beach
>A town with a state park where you can camp right up at the beach
>Where David's family hosts our "as often as humanly possible camping trips"
>"Poor man's Hawaii"
>Where you spend all day at the beach, go eat dinner, and then come right back to the beach to watch the amazing sunsets

>A geographical location used for marking the growth of my children.  i.e. "Look how well Elliott can ride the razor compared to last time!  He's grown up so much since then!"
>Tidepools
>Favorite gathering place of many, many old friends--and their kids, and their kids' kids
>Fancy tea parties on the beach
>Frozen chocolate covered bananas
>Antique shopping
>Lots of late night, no stake poker
>Pop up tent trailer, twinkle lights, fun tablecloths, beachy decor
>Family time
>Donuts

>10 million trips from our spot on the beach back to the trailer for "one more thing", 1 thousand trips bringing everything back to the trailer at night
>Hot showers at 25 cents for 2 minutes
>Very long and loud freight trains rushing by blowing their whistle in the middle of the night
>Extremely wise and crafty raccoons who know how to open coolers and tend to love carnitas
>Bike Theives
>Usually pretty cold ocean water
>Cliffs to hike
>Lovely beach jogging
>Fun place for surf lessons
>Many trips to Starbucks
>Many campfires
>Many S'mores
>Lots of laughter and good stories

I guess you just have to be there... Good times.  Good times.