Travel Journals: March 2019

More Random Thoughts from Down the 101 in Santa Barbara...

(Click on any photo to see it full screen.)

Chumash Art, Mission Santa Barbara Ceiling

It's a casual move from SLO. Our rentals overlap, and we're in the habit of bringing half our stuff down to our new home and returning to SLO for one or two more nights. Why? Because it's a beautiful ride along the coast, and because we can. This year we get our key, unload the RAV4 and head downtown to see a movie at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival before heading back to SLO.

Over the next week we see a lot of great movies - from Finland, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Belarus, Columbia, Italy, Belgium, Denmark and even two from the USA. These are movies that are never going to make it to the local multiplex. The exposure to these films is the biggest reason I'm a fan of film festivals.

I search for bocce in Santa Barbara, and find it at Arnoldi's Italian Restaurant. I don't get to play, but I do spend an evening at their outdoor courts, nursing a couple of draft Peronis and chatting with players in the Monday night league. Pretty laid back, the way bocce is supposed to be. One guy plays carrying his 16-month old daughter in a front pouch. They tell me that the "really good" players (the "old guys" is the way they describe them) play in the Wednesday night league. Rain keeps me from hanging out with those guys.

I also find the Santa Barbara Lawn Bowls Club, a well-established operation with a dozen grass courts and another dozen artificial turf courts for when the grass is wet. It's members only, but I get a free lesson. It's a different game, to say the least. The balls are biased, heavier on one side, so that every throw is a curve ball. Quite a challenge. The club is pretty formal; sometimes they relax after match with a cup of tea. I'll stick with bocce and beer, thanks.

Lawn Bowls

Carol gets into a regular habit of working out at the local YMCA. For me, it's the Daily Grind, a coffee shop I can walk to and get in some writing time and people-watching. At an outdoor table, if the weather cooperates.

We hike whenever we can. By the sea sometimes, panoramic views and easy walks along the beach or on nearby trails with little change in elevation. The alternative, my favorite, is what we call "uppa-de-up." Santa Barbara is bordered by the sea and by the mountains. If you're not walking by the sea, you're hiking up, up, up. You can get away from people and the sounds of traffic and get a good workout in "uppa-de-up" land.

Here are some peeks into the pleasures of hiking around Santa Barbara.

Afternoon Stroll

Low Tide

Taking a Break at the top of Uppa-De-Up

Ojai Trail

Ojai Wilderness

Happy Hiker

A Relic of Times Past

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Sue Keator visits, hoping for some good birdwatching. She isn't disappointed, racking up thirteen "lifers," birds she's never seen before. Can you say phainopepla? It's one of Sue's lifers, along with the black phoebe, the acorn woodpecker (spotted from our kitchen window) and a whole bunch of others.

We introduce Sue to the absolute best raised glazed donuts in America (in my not-so-humble opinion), only a buck and a quarter each at Eller's Donuts ($6.50 for a half dozen). Sue will return home and search for a comparable raised glazed. She won't succeed, I have to tell her; but she'll hunt anyway. I guess if there's too much snow to hunt for birds, finding a good raised glazed donut is a good challenge. We're not donut eaters, so we'll be content to wait a year for our next special treat.

Sue keeps marveling at the mild weather, the flowers and the birds; and keeps exclaiming, "I'm not wearing socks!"

Sue Keator Visits

Talking Birds with Sue

In our last week in Santa Barbara, we take a leisurely drive down the coast to the Getty Villa, a re-creation of a villa in Herculaneum buried and preserved in ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It is our third visit since we've been coming to California. Enough said.

Getty Villa Fountain Detail

Getty Villa Stair Detail

Santa Barbara has a great farmers' market on Saturday mornings. Fresh fruits and vegetables in February! Fresh-caught seafood! Locally produced cheeses and locally raised meats! All in February! A real treat for refugees from the tundra.

Farmers' Market

Wherever I find myself, I enjoy taking my camera, hopping on a bike and exploring. I'll end this journal with some results from one of my Santa Barbara rambles.