We drove down to Santa Barbara for Labor Day weekend. Our first stop was Cold Spring Tavern.
It was a stagecoach stop in the 1800s.
The bar.
Fireplace.
Some history.
Cooking tri-tip.
Their chili recipe.
The cider has a bear on it.
Time to eat.
A live band.
A very American license plate.
A mansion just outside of town.
And another one.
There were some hills, then a layer of fog, then another set of hills above the fog.
On the lawn of the Old Mission.
This guy takes some beautiful hummingbird pictures.
The photographer is one of the friars. Look at the detail on the wings; amazing.
A sign that says, "Though shalt not steal" in the gift shop.
A central garden.
Inside the church.
The front.
Beautiful sculptures of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi.
Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
I wonder why there are three skulls and crossbones above the door.
An old bell.
The current bells ring at 6am, 12pm, and 6pm.
My favorite bit of history: prayers recorded by the daughter of the last fluent speaker of Barbareno Chumash.
Old room.
Queen Elizabeth vising and a friar on a motorcycle.
Our next stop was the Botanical Gardens.
It was fairly large.
Beautiful mosaic.
A few tables.
Down some stairs.
Through an arch.
A maze.
With a little house at the end.
A few items inside.
Across a bridge.
A huge tree. You can barely make me out sitting on a bench beneath it.
The branches need a little help.
Pretty picture with donators.
Lots of flowers.
One alone.
A yurt on the way.
Checking in to the motel. Neat picture of dolphins in a wave.
And of a rainbow above the bay.
The soap holder in the shower is a shell.
Shiny.
Out on Stearns Wharf. The palm reader has some great stained glass windows.
A polar bear at the Museum of Natural History Sea Center.
Ogii petting a shark.
A shark and a ray.
So many starfish.
You can pet those, too.
A research lab type area.
Octopus.
Love how they glow in the black light.
A Spanish Shawl nudibranch.
Moray eel.
Sea horses.
Holding on tightly.
Second story near the entrance.
Fish and chips for dinner with a view of the ships in the bay.
Huge ice cream cone for dessert.
All of the cruises were sold out. Good thing we reserved in advance.
Our ship.
The parasail boat.
Parasailer.
Parasailer, bird, and sailboat.
Some people sat in front, and others sat in back.
We sat on the second level right in front of the captain.
Good thing I wore my heavy sweater; it was cold going into the wind.
Ogii all wrapped up.
A bunch of volleyball nets.
Sunset.
Us with the sunset.
Glancing inside the cabin.
The captain had some controls at the back of the boat and eased it in from there.
People fishing from the wharf.
A little party boat.
The hotel lamps had these little handles attached to the chains.
Up early the next morning. A crescent moon under a tree.
The Old Mission had a rose garden.
Some were huge.
It was very foggy at the wharf.
The dolphin statue.
Us with it.
Just Ogii.
Story of the popcorn man.
Some sand art.
A restaurant that looks like a lighthouse.
Traveling around the US in a van. They have some really cool photos in Instagram.
The Watershed Resource Center had some neat mosaics.
Maps.
Fish tiles.
People on a boat.
Hendrys Beach.
Facing north.
We were there for breakfast at the Boathouse.
Google said it opened at 8am, so we got there a bit before 7:30 to beat the rush. It turns out they actually open at 7:30 and there wasn't a line yet.
We sat by the fire as it was a bit chilly out.
The hotel has a fountain which was filled with succulents instead of water.
A statue of a girl holding a seashell standing on a turtle.
This entire half of the hotel was abandoned.
The hotel was just across the road from the mall.
Walking there we saw this spider.
Time to eat.
A neat lamp.
We stopped at the Museum of Sensory & Movement Experiences.
The entrance. It was staffed by Dianne McKenzie, who is making a documentary called Are You Hearing Me. It was nice chatting to her for a bit.
The XBox motion sensor has been used for a lot of interactive art projects.
Your voice modulates this ring.
Polarized filters.
To see the art.
A monolisk with lights.
Hanging art.
This metal ball senses your heartbeat and spins a light based on it.
Ogii trying it.
You can interact with these dots.
Heat-activated curtain.
It looks like she's making trees.
Stars.
Streamers come out of your limbs.
The mall was surprisingly empty.
Many stores were empty.
And the ones that were open had almost nobody shopping in them.
Macy's seemed to be doing at least OK.
Uh oh, right into the shoe section.
Ogii's purchase.
I like the couches for men to sit while their wives are shopping.
At the south end of State Street are multiple blocks of shops, restaurants, and museums. It's blocked off to traffic, but we got the absolute closest parking spot on this street. Ogii always has the best luck parking.
Houses for sale, obviously some expensive ones, but also some speed boats. That's new.
Cool chairs in this barber shop.
Vintage items.
They use playing cards as their price tags.
In the back.
A McDonald's with upscale signage.
Clothing store.
Simple art using wire to make flowers.
Ogii likes Anthropologie.
Especially the sale section.
More men sitting and waiting.
A denim deer.
This guy had a huge dog.
And this guy had a tiny one.
More clothing stores.
The street signs have a really weird font.
It seems most of the mall stores had moved to this area. There is definitely much more foot traffic here.
Hawaiian dance.
Lots of spectators.
I'm pretty sure the best store to open in an area where tourists walk around is an ice cream shop. They always have a line out the door.
Giant chess set.
Tons of staples for past shows in this post.
3D artwork.
A red piano out front.
You can walk down the middle of the street through all of the restaurants.
We decided on Pascucci for lunch.
They have locally-sourced food.
Tables in the back near the bar.
We sat out front.
The crust of the dessert was chopped nuts; it was amazing.
Like in Carmel, if you're only one block off the main shopping street, foot traffic drops to almost nothing. This clothing store used to be video production company; they haven't even removed the old signage yet.
The tops of this bush is red.
Colorful stairs.
The Museum of Contemporary Art. This had a spaceship you could look into.
A larger room.
Ogii peeking through a mailbox.
I like the burned doorway on the left.
Musical.
This neat glasses shop closed.
Salt caves which you can sit in for a while.
Salt shop.
A was basically a mobile hanger rack for the day while Ogii shopped.
One of my favorite words in shopping.
Pretty rock that changes color based on your direction.
Seal statue.
A little shopping area.
Statue of people playing instruments.
Fountain of animals.
Window washer statue.
Old stagecoach route.
Skate park.
Vendors by the beach.
Early airplanes marker.
Another huge line for an ice cream store.
Unique architecture.
After a long day of walking, time for some massages.
They did a great job.
The dolphin statue at sunset.
And the Old Mission a bit later when the colors were brighter.
We stopped for some snacks and I was in the mood for tea. They were sold out except for sweet tea, but I love sweet tea, so no problem.
I can believe someone thought of these; I cannot believe they were actually produced.
I used to love the jelly nougats in the Brach's Pick-A-Mix. These weren't quite as good, though.
The pier at sunrise.
Palm trees.
The sun over the sailboats.
Some nice photos at the hotel.
The stairs at the hotel were tiled with neat images.
Breakfast on the our balcony.
The skeletons on the estate sale is a bit morbid, but I guess it's appropriate. Makes an eye-catching ad.
Palm tree bus stop.
Some deer along the road.
Stopping at the gate to what used to be Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch.
Many people had written on the bricks.
The a quick stop in San Luis Obispo.
Mission bell.
Mission.
Fun fountain with bears.
History Center.
A giant piece of art.
Beautiful mural.
Stream through the middle of town.
Many shops.
Bubble gum alley.
That's a lot of gum.
A little bit of shopping here, too.
Also lots of store closures, though.
One of Ogii's favorite stores.
Stopping at the Madonna Inn.
The entrance.
Very pink.
Crazy purse in the gift shop.
Ballroom.
Stained glass roses in the doors.
The men's bathroom has a waterfall urinal.
And shells for the sinks.
Nice chairs to sit by the fire.
The garden.
We bought a cream puff and ate it on the drive home. It was huge.
I got a bit on my nose.
The speed and mileage reads 3456789.