Traveling with the Grobmyers Day 2 January 27, 2024

 Happy birthday to me!! Thank you to all that have reached out to wish me a happy birthday today and check on our luggage. More on that later.

This morning we slept in and woke up to the smell of bacon from the breakfast area downstairs. Not a bad way to wake up.  After breakfast we drove over to Santa Barbara to the beach. Santa Barbara must be one of the perfect places to live. It was 64 degrees this morning, blue skies, low humidity, and a light breeze. It doesn’t get much better than that.  We walked along Chase Palm Park with dozens of others walking dogs and riding bike. It was beautiful.

That is the Channel Island National Park in the distance.

We walked over to the visitor’s center and the two ladies in there gave us some great suggestions of things to do. They told us about the Santa Barbara Courthouse and the things we needed to see inside. Told us some great places we might want to try for dinner, and most importantly told me about a quilt shop close by. They were very nice and very helpful.

I met Grant of Grant House quilt shop. He was friendly and talked glowingly about his customers and some of the services he offers in his shop. He sells sewing machines and has lots of classes especially for new machine owners. 

The Courthouse was beautiful! It is open to the public to wander around. It has been restored recently. The courtyard is a favorite places for weddings. We saw two while we were there.

The ladies at the Visitor Center told us to check out the courtroom on the second floor. All four walls have murals depicting the history of Santa Barbara. When the first oil money check came in in the early 1900’s they commissioned the mural. The money burned a hole in their pockets. But it is beautiful.

We then climbed to the observation tower at the top for some incredible views of the city.

After the courthouse we needed something to drink. During Covid the city shut down Garden Street so restaurants could have outdoor seating. It was so popular that they have kept the street closed to cars. It is a nice area to walk around and shop and eat. We went in one shops that had some of the neatest local craftsman’s wares, everything from blown and fused class to pottery to wood craft. 

We stopped at Mizza for something to drink and a light lunch. We shared the meatballs and each had a really nice green salad. Very fresh.

We received notice our luggage had been delivered to our hotel so we drove back to the hotel to rest and freshen up. And probably just to make sure they really were there.

Here are some of the flora and fauna pictures I always take. Joe will be walking and all of a sudden he notices I’m not there. Usually because I have stopped to take pictures. The flowers are so pretty. They have had a nice wet winter so far so everything is green. They said they are expecting more rain next week so I think we picked a great time to come.

Tonight Joe cooked my birthday dinner at Joe’s Cafe.

Tomorrow morning there is an Art Sale in the park we were in this morning. The ladies told us it was worth visiting and everyone is local, so we will check that out tomorrow morning.