Santa Barbara

Friday –

I thought I would sleep late before driving to Santa Barbara, but my clock said 10:10 when I was awakened by the traffic noise. I got on the road by 11:15 and the 405 had heavy traffic, but no bad delays. 

Every once in a while I would explore different exits off the

highway to see the little California beach towns, Ventura, Carpintiera, Montecito, and then Santa Barbara. Off the exit there was a small bird sanctuary where I stopped and took some photos of a few shore birds. Further down the road I pulled in to the tourist center and got a map. The restaurants on the Harbor pier looked interesting so I headed there for lunch. Since my phone had only 20% charge left I asked the bartender to charge it and he gladly plugged it in for me.

The sliders in the Endless Summer Bar were just OK but the view was awesome overlooking the harbor full of sailboats of every kind and color. After lunch I walked around and was the only person without a heavy coat. It was windy and about 61˚ out there.

I met up with Stephanie Hamilton-Durkin and followed to her rental home.

Stef is the daughter of my good friends Theresa and Bob. She and Brenden just moved here and have a beautiful rental overlooking Santa Barbara and the ocean and invited me to stay. What a magnificent location and view.

 

This is my first time here and we drove into town for pizza and some dessert. I purchased a bottle of wine in the Auckland airport to bring them, but left it in my hotel room. I’ll send it with T & B next weekend to enjoy. This is a classy sleepy little town that is known for many things, wine, beach volleyball, fresh foods, beach, and Oprah lives here too!

We sat on one of the decks here watch it get dark and drinking a Santa Barbara Pinot Noir – it was quite good. I wish the NZ wine was here to compare.

Sleep and need to sleep this jet lag away. I’m not sure what tomorrow brings…..