Santa Barbara - Visitors Come and Go. And then, we go too.

Our final week in Santa Barbara was Guest Week.  Two days after Jan arrived, Carol's sister, Pat, and her partner, Kathy, came into town on Amtrak after a visit to Disneyland.  Next came Jan's friend, Dave.  After seven weeks alone, we had a lively time with all our visitors.

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Carol, Kathy and Pat at the Boathouse Restaurant, Hendrys Beach

Hendrys Beach

Seaweed, Hendrys Beach

We went on a whale watching cruise.  We saw a lot of gray whales, but they're sneaky quick and hard to photograph.

Dave and Jan on our whale watching cruise

Where's Whaledo?

Rowdie was happy to have Aunt Jan visit. Luckily, Jan loves dogs.

We drove to the Santa Ynez Mountains for a fabulous hike in Aliso Canyon.

Aliso Canyon, Santa Ynez Mountains  (Forget Waldo.  Where's Carol?)

Descent into Aliso Canyon

Lupines, Aliso Canyon

Aliso Canyon.  After the 2011 fire, new life.

Carol's bike gave her some problems, so she took matters into her own hands.  Always willing to take on a challenge, she set out to do her own repairs.  The problem was that she had no tools and no real experience at bike repair.   So the Queen of Finding Things found a bicycle cooperative where for a small donation she had access to all the bicycle tools she needed and to her own bike mechanic to provide guidance.

Carol learns to true a wheel at Bici Bikes

Bici Bikes,  Where Old Bikes Never Die, But Become Art

We took Jan and Dave to Knapp's Castle, where Carol and I had watched the sunset the previous week.  Knapp was a wealthy man who, in the early 20th century, built his dream home high in the Santa Ynez Mountains.  He sold it in the 1940's.  A few months after the sale, the castle burned to the ground.  It is said that the woman who bought the castle from Knapp was the only person to ever lose money on real estate in Santa Barbara.

Remains of Knapp's Castle

Cachuma Lake, reservoir for Santa Barbara, as seen from Knapp's Castle

Knapp's Castle Detail - Flowers Among the Ruins

Our guests had departed, and our time in Santa Barbara was short. On a beautiful Sunday morning, we got on our bikes and set out to enjoy the day.  After cycling to Montecito, we strolled the beach there before returning to downtown Santa Barbara, which is quite a happening scene on Sundays.  I'll end this journal with photos from our bicycle excursion.

Beach scenes:

Wandering

Hard at work

Sea Urchin

Playful Pooch.  The chocolate lab was a laugh riot.  I spent several minutes getting shots of him.

Montecito Peak from the bike trail

Wall Detail Along Bike Trail

Santa Barbara on a Sunny Sunday:

Art Fair

Art Fair

The skateboard park was alive with action on Sunday.

Balancing Act in Motion  (He hopped up onto the rail somehow, slid along it to the end and skated away!)

Taking Flight

Crowds strolled along State Street.  The sidewalk cafés were full.  Bands played in plazas.  The man below played the bongos for a lively Latin band.  At one point, he left his drums and announced, "I need a dance partner."  This young woman stepped out of the crowd and obliged him.

Two days later, we packed up the RAV4 and the following morning hit the road for home before the sun was up.  You've seen what draws us back to California's Central Coast each year.  

I'll end up with a final photo of one of the big draws that pulls us back home to Minneapolis.

Our beloved three amigos:  Wesley (6), Aidan (9), Julien (4)

Santa Barbara - Missions, Mansions, Models and History

Ever since we saw a gardener last year sweeping the sidewalk with a palm frond, Carol has craved her own palm broom.  This year I made it my job to find one for her.  It wasn't easy.  I found several possibilities, but none quite fit the bill.  Too big.  Too small.  Too scrawny.  Then one morning last week on our dog walk on the ocean front, eureka!  Just right!  Carol was delighted.  For my part, I was proud to find something for the Queen of Finding Things.  Rowdie gazed out to sea, unimpressed.

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Carol's Dream Broom

On that same walk, I scored another find - Eller's Bakery, where they make the best raised glazed doughnuts I've tasted in a long, long time.

On another dog walk last week, we decided to stroll the beach at Arroyo Burro.  Rowdie loves the beach.  The smells are pure heaven for a Midwestern dog - salt air, seaweed, shells.  And the birds!  Terns!  Gulls!  Sometimes even pelicans!  She barks a greeting to each and every one.  We didn't get to walk this day, however.  We had forgotten to check the tide charts; there was no beach to walk at high tide!

The excitement for the week began with a trip to Getty Villa.  Carol loved our visit so much last year that she just had to go again.  While she took the garden tour, I set myself the challenge of finding photos that I hadn't already taken last year, when I had a field day with my camera.

Pottery, Getty Villa

Gardens, Getty Villa

Fresco Detail, Getty Villa

Bench, Getty Villa

There is a walk high in the Santa Ynez Mountains that I wanted badly to take because of the promise of a dramatic sunset.  The one-mile round trip to Knapp's Castle isn't long enough or hard enough to qualify as a "hike," but it turned out to be worth the drive up into the mountains, which is a pleasure in itself.  We left the house in fog, but I was hoping that the remains of the mansion would be above the fog.  I was right!

Fog-enshrouded Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz Island, seen at dusk from Camino Cielo, Santa Ynez Mountains

We arrived in plenty of time for me to shoot photos to my heart's content while we waited for the sun to descend below the mountains between us and the sea.    What we encountered at Knapp's Castle when we arrived reminded us that you never know what surprises await when you are exploring new trails.

Knapp's Castle, Santa Ynez Mountains

Sunset in the Santa Ynez Mountains, from Knapp's Castle

And the surprise - we happened upon a fashion photo shoot.

Natural Beauty of Santa Ynez Mountains, Enhanced

Fashion Photographer - my retirement career?

The parade of visitors began last Friday with the arrival of our friend, Jan Search.  (I'll talk more about visitors in my next blog.)  Jan, Carol and I had a great day on Sunday, when we drove to Lompoc to visit Mission La Purisima.  I was expecting to see just another mission church, but instead we found a complete restoration of a mission compound - church, dwellings, livestock pens (with some livestock), gardens, residences.  While Carol took an interesting docent-led tour, Jan and I wandered the several acres trying to capture it all with our photography.

The mission was a thriving community in the early 19th century, with over a thousand residents.  A plaque informed us that the mission livestock inventory for 1820 lists: 9,500 cattle; 12,600 sheep; 1,305 horses; 288 mules; 86 swine; 40 goats and 15 burros.  "The ducks, turkeys, chickens and geese," it reported, "were not counted."

La Purisima Mission

La Purisima Mission

Herb Garden, La Purisima Mission

Door Detail, La Purisima

Denizens of La Purisima Mission

And a few final photos from our roaming about town:

Entry to the courtyard of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Montecito

Montecito Peak, seen from Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Downtown Dogs - Chick Magnets

Santa Barbara - From the Beach to Beethoven

Wild Thing!  Downtown Santa Barbara

A very warm week in Santa Barbara.  So, we headed for the beach.  You can bicycle to the beach here, but we chose to hit the road, driving an hour north to Jalama Beach.  The old saying that "getting there is half the fun" was true on this day.  The last fourteen miles on Jalama Road was a twisting and turning, rising and falling journey through lovely, virtually uninhabited hill country.  Strolling for miles along the beach provided the other half of a good day.  Rowdie was in dog heaven, prancing in the surf and greeting sea birds with enthusiasm.  At the end of our wandering, we had a delicious Jalama Burger and a couple of cold ones at the Jalama Beach Campground.

  

(Reminder  - a click on any photo enlarges it to screen size.)

Jalama Beach

Better than a good day at the office!

Hanging out at Jalama Beach

Flotsam, Jalama Beach

Art of the Sea

Art of the Sea

Art of the Sea

Art of the Sea

The rest of the week we just hung out - a tour of the Botanical Gardens, happy hour on a deck overlooking the marina, and...  I don't know; we must have done something.

Botanical Gardens and La Cumbre Peak

I love! this sign

Of course, we are always walking the dog.  There's lots to see.

Working Boats

Got Rowdie's Attention!

Incoming!  Pelicans!  Got our attention!

The Tuesday Farmers' Market  is always worth a visit.

Red is beautiful.

Street Musician, Farmers' Market

A highlight of this week came this afternoon, just hours before this edition of Travel Journals went to the presses.  Exactly one week after we listened to blues at a funky bar in the wilds of the Santa Ynez Mountains, we found ourselves in the solemn quiet of Trinity Episcopal Church on State Street, a ten-minute walk from our house.  There we heard a beautiful concert, Duos for Violin, Clarinet and Piano.  We listened to music of Beethoven, Rossini and Kreisler (a new one for me).  Not quite as rockin' as last Sunday, but every bit as worthwhile.  The link above is to a local newspaper article on history of the church.  It's pretty interesting; take a minute to check it out.

Beautiful music filled Trinity Episcopal on Sunday afternoon.

Next week, guests arrive.