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.

(Click on any photo to make it screen size.)

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.

Santa Barbara '15

From the Farmers' Market to our living room

Our first week in Santa Barbara was all about the International Film Festival.  We took in movies from Argentina, Israel, Norway and New Zealand, bicycling daily to where the cinematic action was on downtown State Street.

It's easy to strike up conversations while standing in line to gain entry into a film.  On Saturday we spoke with a woman who told us about Cold Spring Tavern, high in the Santa Ynez Mountains that rim Santa Barbara to the east.  On Sunday afternoons, she informed us, the tavern rocks with live blues.  We wanted to see and hear for ourselves; so on Sunday we drove up, up, up Route 154 toward San Marcos Pass and then turned off on West Camino Cielo, which snakes its way along the ridge and offers views that inspire equal parts awe and vertigo.

The pavement ended abruptly at the Westchester Gun Club, "Public Welcome."  A sign advised that further travel on the road was not advised.  We pulled into the gun club to get directions.  With signs preaching safety all around, along with regular pop-popping of weaponry, a crusty, friendly fellow gave us directions and we set off quickly.

We negotiated hairpin turns through forested mountain land that felt far from civilization.  Before we saw the tavern, we came upon cars parked every which way along both sides of the narrow road.  We drove on until we rounded a bend and saw two unimpressive log cabins with a couple hundred people milling about outside, plastic cups of beer and wine in their hands, having what sure looked like a great time.  We had arrived at Cold Spring Tavern.  We managed to park a football field's length away and made our way to the bar.  Amazingly, we found two empty seats inside the door, steps away from the tiny stage where the band was wailing away.  We purchased cold draft beers and monstrous tri-tip sandwiches from staff working nonstop to keep up with demand, and settled in for a Sunday afternoon of the blues.

Cold Spring Tavern - The Place to Be on Sunday Afternoon

Cold Spring Tavern - Blues, Beer and Tri-tip Sandwiches

Rockin' at the Cold Spring Tavern (Note the drums.)

Earlier Sunday morning, we took a docent-led tour of Arroyo Hondo Ranch, one of the first ranches in the area and now preserved as part of the Santa Barbara Land Trust.

Dry Creek, Arroyo Hondo

California Live Oak, Arroyo Hondo

Land Trust Tools of the Trade

Morning Dew, Arroyo Hondo

Arroyo Hondo Trail

Reminder of Times Past

A few more images from our first week in Santa Barbara:

Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Our Lady of Sorrows

Vine, Downtown Santa Barbara

And finally, on "Art Night" downtown last week, one art gallery invited visitors to fill a wall with post-it "art" on the theme of why Santa Barbara is different from anyplace else.  The winner, in my humble opinion:

Why Santa Barbara Is Unique

Farewell, San Luis Obispo

I had one last thing I had to do before leaving San Luis Obispo.  I was determined to climb Bishop's Peak, the hardest hike in the area.  Only a tad less than three miles round trip, it is a steady climb up a steep peak, climaxed by a bit of rock climbing to reach the large boulder at the very top.  We've done it twice before on previous visits, but we're not getting either younger or stronger.  Could we still manage it?

Still able to conquer Bishop's Peak

On our last full day in SLO, we wanted to get in one more good hike, so we headed for Ontario Ridge, a trail high above the ocean between Avila Beach and Shell Beach.  Getting to the ridge was a grueling climb straight up the steep side of the ridge.  What we accomplished in over an hour of demanding switchbacks on Bishop's Peak, we did in fifteen minutes of the steepest climb I can remember ever tackling.

Avila Beach seen from Ontario Ridge

The 101 to San Francisco, from atop Ontario Ridge

 East Cuesta Ridge before sunrise

Sunrise on East Cuesta Ridge

Our last week in SLO was not all rugged challenges.  Through our friend, Mike Huck, we met Sarah Kraft, a Cal Poly student majoring in agribusiness and preparing to be certified as a Level Two sommelier.  Sarah and her photographer friend, Paul, met us for lunch and wine tasting in the hills outside Paso Robles.  We learned a few things about wine tasting and had a great afternoon with two friendly and talented young people.

Sarah and Carol sampling a Malbec and taking in the view at Calcareous Vineyard

We managed also to fit in dinner at Ciopinot, a restaurant noted for its fish stew and wine list that includes several dozen pinot noirs.  There were tens of thousands of butterflies at Pismo Beach, a winter haven for migrating Monarchs.  And there was more live music, the highlight being an evening of extraordinary entertainment by the Ballet Theater San Luis Obispo in collaboration with the Tipsy Gypsies, a lively local band.  After watching and listening, the audience joined the pros on the dance floor.  A great evening.  (The link is to the newspaper article about the event we attended.  At the beginning of the article is another link to the Tipsy Gypsies; click on it to see and hear them perform one of their numbers.)

One of San Luis Obispo's many excellent restaurants

Butterfly Cove, Pismo Beach

Old Barn, Paso Robles

Tiny Beauty

And finally, a vision.  I was entering my adolescent years when my dream car first rolled off the Ford assembly line.  All these years later, it is still The One for me. 

Marco Magnifico's '57 hard-top convertible T-bird

Now it's on to the Mediterranean climes of Santa Barbara.