Like Canada’s Victoria Day weekend, Memorial Day weekend in the US marks the beginning of the long awaited summer season. Please don’t throw things at me, I know some of you wait longer for the summer than others. Happy to have a long weekend, Andrew and I decided to take a day trip to the beautiful coastal town of Santa Barbara. As we took in the warm sunshine and cool ocean breeze we didn’t give much thought to the real reason for the holiday. After dinning on big juicy hamburgers we decided to take a stroll along the beach. It was here, in this beautiful and unlikely place that we learned what Memorial Day means—honouring fallen soldiers.