a drive up the west coast

i am lucky enough to have friends who live in santa barbara, marta and mark - so i thought i should give julie and family a couple of days break and headed north (sort of). it turns out it is really west in a northerly direction thanks to the coastline.

anyway, the first evening was cocktails on the beach as the sun was setting. yes, it was as good as it sounds - of course i didn't get photos, that would've made too much sense.

the next day was adventures galore with marta (poor mark had to work) and there were photos taken of said adventures. first stop was a tour of the santa barbara mission, we were there a couple of hours on a docent-led history tour.

morton bay figs made it all the way over here (as well as the bajillion gum trees).

then we took the trails over the santa ynez mountains along the old wagon train route, passing by a great bridge. i love bridges.

we stopped for lunch at the tavern where the stage coach drivers used to hang out.

then through the town of santa ynez which honestly has streets that all seem to look like the below photos.

so from the small old west community it was onto another oddity, solvang. a dutch town in california (where i happened to buy a couple of turkish dishes - odd i tells ya).

surprising to almost no one, i managed to buy another pair of shoes (my fifth for the trip so far). the drive back was along the coast - the weather has just been fabulous.