Santa Barbara Solstice Party

On our way to Santa Barbara on Saturday, we ran into heavy traffic for much of the way, especially from Oxnard/ Ventura to Goleta. Instead of the usual two hours, it took three, and although we left early, we were still cutting it very close to the start of the wedding.  Fortunately for us, the best man was just one car ahead of us, and they waited for him to arrive in order to start the ceremony.

Why the traffic? It appears that Santa Barbara hosts a Summer Solstice Celebration, and after the wedding when we wandered on State Street we saw some of these fun costumes (and confetti on the sidewalk) presumably from the parade. The theme this year was "Fantasy".

Massive Traffic Jam Explained

At least three carloads of people I know were stuck in this massive traffic jam on the Westbound I-10 last Sunday.  One of those cars held my dear husband and his umpire buddy who had called two games out in Palm Desert and were headed home at 2:30.  Normally I would have expected him to be home before 5, but he didn't even get to our house until 7:30 - making his commute 5 hours.  Two people in our book club who were hiking in Palm Springs that morning never made it to the discussion.

Was it an accident?  No.  It was a huge error on Caltrans' part, as explained in this front-page LA Times article today.  One take-away message was that we should make sure that our earthquake supplies are up-to-date since in the event of an emergency, people are not getting out of here very fast.