Santa Barbara Snippets

Saguaros at hotel, Barstow

We left for Santa Barbara a day early to beat a huge rain/snow storm that was about to hit the Southwest. We had dry and clear roads the entire way, with a high of 80 degrees. We ate lunch at a little park on the Colorado River, which in these parts, in between Arizona and California, is crystal clear--the red clay sediment filtered out by so many dams upstream. The first night we stopped in Barstow, although we could have driven on to Santa Barbara. The Mojave was windy and dusty the whole way, and Barstow so dusty and windy we could barely find a hotel, so the boys could not swim in the outdoor pool.

Today we packed up early and headed to Santa Barbara. We drove through Joshua trees and orange groves, stopped and bought a bag of fresh local oranges and saw avocados so big we almost weren't sure what they were.

Joshua Tree

The boys were so excited at their first glimpse of the ocean, they took off their shoes and socks in the van. This is Sawed Off's first visit to the ocean. H-Bomb has seen the Pacific in Mexico and the Atlantic in Florida. All H-Bomb wanted to do was go swimming in the ocean.


When we got on the 101, I told H-Bomb, "Watch for movie stars on this freeway--this is the 101!"

H-Bomb said, "Okay! What do movie stars look like?"

Point taken, H-Bomb.


When we arrived in SB, we walked across the street from our hotel to the ocean, and then down to the Wharf for lunch. We stopped at the first restaurant we came to, which may have been a mistake. My sandwich alone was $16. At least it was delicious.


H-Bomb was excited to go down to the ocean and look for seashells. He also really wanted to go swimming in the ocean, so he ran down to feel the water. Of course he fell down, and then a wave came. He was soaked! And that water wasn't very warm. So we walked back and he settled for swimming in the hotel pool.


Tonight there was a "wine and cheese reception" in our hotel lobby, which is miniscule so I fear I will not be needing all the dresses and fancy shoes that I packed. But I will definitely drink my share of wine...and I'm sure the boys will spend as much time in the pool as we allow. This is already a great vacation.