Santa Barbara

Candice, Juliet, Lucy, and I went down to Santa Barbara weekend before last for a brief visit. I hadn't been down there since Juliet was born (over five years!) and I still have quite a few friends down there, so it was high time for a visit.

We rented a little vacation house (duplex, actually) near east beach. It was a cozy two bedroom place with a nice little kitchen, a small back yard, just a few steps from the beach. It was really perfect for our stay. Kudos to Candice for finding it on http://vrbo.com.

The trip down was a bit disconcerting, because we saw two serious accidents. The first, we actually witnessed, near Pismo Beach, when an SUV about 4 cars ahead of us careened off the road and ran directly into the guardrail. The second we drove by minutes after it happened, near Buellton. It was even more serious, and we saw the victims on the roadside, obviously injured. To make it even stranger, Jennifer told us that it was actually a friend of hers, and she visited her in the hospital the next day!

Anyway, we arrived safe and sound in SB. We ordered dinner in from a nice Italian place called Ca' Dario. Then, Jim and Linda came over and we visited with them for a bit. On Saturday, we went to the home of my old friend Jon Southard, whom I hadn't seen in a number of years. I had not even met his wife and two sons, and Candice had not met any of them. Jon made us a nice lunch and the kids had fun playing in their large back yard with all kinds of animals (chickens, rabbit, dog, etc.) Even Lucy came along!

That night we had dinner with Jennifer and John at a swooshy new place called Cafe Luck. Michael Keaton and his wife were sitting near us, and on the way out we saw Dennis Miller. A true Santa Barbara moment.

Sunday we went to the charming Santa Barbara zoo. In the evening, Rod came over and we grilled steaks and watched the Oscars.

All in all, an enjoyable, if somewhat rushed visit. I still have fond place in my heart for Santa Barbara.