Author's note: The names of the boys and their families have been changed to protect their privacy.

Part IV

        Jason told me he'd never really been out of his neighborhood except for the few trips we had taken.  I suggested to Sharon I take him to Santa Barbara. This turned out to be one of our more memorable adventures.

        There is no better introduction to our glistening ocean and bountiful hills then a drive down U.S. highway 101, north of Ventura County.  Suddenly you are surrounded by beauty which has to be seen to be believed.

        We left for our trip early on a Saturday morning.  Of course we started our drive by listening to Harry Belafonte.  By now our repertoire included three of his songs.  As we headed north, I took the opportunity to once again act as a tour guide, pointing out famous landmarks along the way. 

        It's a long drive to Santa Barbara and my main goal was to keep Jason occupied with
conversation, music and games so he would not slip into the "Are we there yet?" routine.

        It wasn't long before we made our way under the train bridge which crosses over the 101 in the city of Ventura.  A moment later you see the stunning landscape of ocean and mountains.  I watched Jason s face for any visible sign of reaction.

        He saw the scenery, looked at me and said it was cool.  Kid talk for "O.K."  But now he wanted to know when we'd be in Santa Barbara.  At least I'd made it to Ventura before he started those questions.

        You can not travel along the coastline in this area with children and not stop at Santa Claus Lane.  It's a cheesy tourist stop with a huge Santa perched on the top of one of the roofs.  But there is a candy store which makes the best peanut butter, chocolate ice cream milkshakes. Jason told me he had never had a milkshake.  This floored me since I naturally assumed every child had tasted at least one. 

        The Amtrak train tracks run right along the road where we were and past that is a bunch of huge rocks with the beach down the hill.  I  had brought the camera and lined up a beautiful shot of Jason standing in the middle of the tracks with the mountains in the background.  I took his picture, he took mine and we continued our drive.

        The first stop in Santa Barbara was the historical courthouse with its famous bell tower.  You can climb to the top and get a breathtaking view of the city.  And it's a great photo opportunity.  By now Jason was used to the camera and almost posed on cue.

        We then went to the zoo.  This may not have been the first time he'd seen wild animals, but Jason  "oohed" and "ahhed" at the big cats, giraffes and especially the elephants.  It was here I gave him the camera and suggested he take a picture of an animal.  We happened to be near an exhibit with a giant tortoise walking around.  I watched him focus on the turtle and again line up a picture.

        It wasn't until after I had the film developed that I noticed Jason had waited until the tortoise was peaking out from a trunk of the trees and thus, it looked like the tortoise was walking past an elephant.  Based on that picture I knew I wanted to encourage his obvious talent for photography.

        We went to a local restaurant for lunch which happened to be having a promotional event.  They were giving away balloons to the children. Jason selected a red one and asked me to tie it to his wrist so it would not blow away.  I'm not exactly sure what happened, but moments later the
balloon was drifting away to parts unknown and to this day Jason insists I owe him a red balloon.

        Our weekly meetings continued and we looked at new books every week.  His reading improved slightly. One day we were discussing what our next trip might be and he told me he'd always wanted to go to Disneyland.  This trip would be too expensive for me to afford.  However, if I could get passes to the park, then his dream would come true...