Santa Barbara, California

Great drive up the coast yesterday. First we went to Whole Foods in Irvine and grabbed some apples and stuff and then we were off. 405 freeway zoom up to the San Pedro 110 and then south.

Whoops! Bit of a detour as I’d forgotten that I wanted to take Colette over the bridges from Long Beach to San Pedro, so we cut back over to Long Beach at Pacific Coast Highway and then followed the LB freeway south until it promised to take us to the harbor and San Pedro.

Then up and over the bridge to Terminal Island and then up and over the Vincente Thomas Bridge and into San Pedro.

I took her by the early San Pedro home of the Nichols Institue and then we embarked to take the road around Palos Verdes to the beach cities; Hermosa, Redondo and Manhattan and then up past Venice Beach, Santa Monica and out onto the coast up to Santa Barbara.

It was a fun and mellow drive. Lunch at a small Mexican place in Oxnard, then a stop in Carpenteria to shed our shoes and take a walk in the sand.

In Santa Barbara, we had a coffee and a little walk about and then connected with our friends, PJ and Marcia at their house. They are residents of New Zealand as well as U.S. citizens and that’s how I met PJ about four years ago. They’ve lived in Santa Barbara now for 30 years. What a lovely choice for a home town they’ve made. Just beautiful.

A nice evening out for more Mexican food (working hard to catch Colette up on a lifetime on not having it) and then a good catch up back at their place.

Up in the morning and out for coffee and a tour of downtown including the city’s spectacular courthouse. Then some good byes and now C and I are in a Starbucks here on Main Street catching up with our electronic friends before we’re off to San Luis Obispo.

Dennis

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