Cyndi and I took a romantic weekend drive this weekend.. Down the coast along highway 1 in the mini stopping at various cool places or just to go for a walk. We ended up in Santa Barbara at a place on the beach. Spent the evening downtown in several different pubs and bars, one with a really good Johnny Cash cover band.

But the highlight of the trip was the stop on the way back up at Ostrich Land in Buellton. All the way back from Santa Barbara Cyndi kept screamin' "I wanna go to Ostrich Land! I wanna go to Ostrich Land!" OK! We went.

They give you what is basically a dog food bowl bolted to a dustpan as a handle full of food. You walk out to this fence and this enormous bird (or 9) come up and tries to swipe the entire bowl, handle and all, from you. You play tug of war with one as 2 or 3 others try to battle their way in to get food as well. These things are like 5 feet tall and just huge, but clearly dumb as a rock. There's nothing clever or smart about the way they attempt to eat. They just take whacks at the bowl trying to get it's content from you. They are quite strong, and despite several warnings from the lady running the place, it was an unexpected challenge to hang on to your bowl.

Still, well worth the experience. They've got a little gift shop as well selling all sorts of ostrich stuff, and I kinda wanted to get some ostrich jerky... though I'm still not sure if it was just to try it or just to eat it in front of them...

If you're ever heading down 101, it's on the road between Buellton and Solvang.