Visiting Santa Barbara

We're not meeting our goal of staying warm and dry all winter. But that's ok, because we are experiencing this life on the road, the good, bad, wet, and dry of it. We are much closer to the weather in an RV, so it matters more to us than it did in a sticks and bricks house. When we lived in the house, if the weather was bad, we could turn the thermostat up and hibernate in the basement, barely hearing the wind and rain. But in the motor home, we're right there in the weather with just a little separation from it. Rain gets old pretty fast, and we had nearly 3 days of steady rain. I know it's a good thing for California, and I'm glad for them it rained. But now I'm ready for a little sunshine and warmth.

This morning it was dry, and the sun came out! Here's a shot of the mountains we can see out our front windows. Guess there was a little very white rain falling with this storm.

After the morning coffee and walks, we loaded the dogs, cameras and water into the little Saturn, and went off in search of Santa Barbara. I mentioned yesterday that we wanted to find the mall and do a little shopping.

We found the mall and headed to Sears first. I gave Jim a gift card so he could get what he wanted. He found a pair of new shoes and a drill! Now he can walk and work on the motor home. Oh Boy!

I needed a new purse. I looked at Sears but didn't see anything I liked. We went to Macy's and I found just the right one.

Enough shopping. I needed to do a little banking business in town, so we got that taken care of, then just drove around, taking in the sights of the town. We ended up at Sterns Wharf and drove out to the end of the pier, where we parked and went to the Moby Dick Restaurant for crab melt sandwiches. Jim had his usual cup of clam chowder, which I shared. We declared this some of the best clam chowder we've had.

Here's a picture for our friend, Karon, who works with stained glass. Jim saw these windows in a shop on the pier and thought of her.

Here's a view from the pier looking back at Santa Barbara.

And a little gull friend. I wonder if he pays attention to the "No Fishing" sign?

We decided to come home back up Highway 101 rather than going back the same way we came into Santa Barbara, which was Highway 154. That was a wild ride, and would not be a fun trip with the motor home. In one place we had 6% grade for 3 miles, and then a 7% grade for 2 miles. We think the extra mileage is preferable to the strain on the transmission, brakes, and our nerves.

We also decided we'll stay here another week. There are still many adventures to be experienced in this area!