It's a South Facing Beach

 It has been a long hard year and I needed a road trip to rejuvenate. Zach is in Frankfurt and COVID restrictions didn't allow me to plan a trip to Germany yet. Joe is working and saving his vacation time for other upcoming trips, and I am busy moving into a new school building and hiring staff, so this trip would need to be another mini-trip. Since Zach isn't able to join us, we gained a new passenger in Matt.

We left San Diego around 6:00 p.m. with a quick stop at Chick-Fil-A for dinner. Our destination was Marc and Jackie's house. Marc is Matt's youngest brother and he and Jackie live in Newbury Park just north of Thousand Oaks. We made good time and arrived around 9:30 p.m, greeted with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Joe and David played games with their cousin Alex and his wife Cata while the rest of us visited for a while. It was late for me, so after joining in a few rounds of a new game, I was off to bed.

On Friday morning, Marc treated us to his special Lemon Ricotta Zucchini pancakes which were very yummy. We had fresh strawberries and blueberries and Jackie's homemade zucchini muffins as well. We were on the road to Santa Barbara by 10:00 am but will return to Newbury Park on our journey home.

The drive to Santa Barbara was uneventful. Matt drove so that I could join a work meeting from the backseat of the car. The reception wasn't great as we drove along the coast, and eventually, my phone dropped me from the meeting. That was okay though because we had arrived. We took a tour on the Santa Barbara Trolley and for the next 90 minutes saw the sites and learned about Santa Barbara and Montecito the neighboring community. We learned that there are a number of celebrities including Carol Burnett, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bridges, and dozens more that have homes and spend at least part of their time in Montecito. Our goal was to decide what places to return to after the tour was over. Our tour guide was full of interesting facts and had even lived in San Diego. He let us know that Santa Barbara is a south-facing beach which can be confusing to those of us who always think that the ocean is what you see when you look west.

We had a list of things to do, so when the tour was over, we headed to State Street to find a place to eat. We settled on Joe's Cafe,

established in 1928. The food was decent and our waitress was nice. The service was a little slow, but it gave us time to relax and enjoy each other's company. My stomach did not agree with my meal and our time in Santa Barbara was cut short. It was less than an hour to Solvang where we would be staying the next two nights.

After checking into our hotel, Hotel Corque, my stomach had started to feel a bit better. We walked around the town trying to get acclimated to the layout. As is common in most small towns, nearly all of the shops were closed by 5:00 p.m. The guys picked up dinner at Don Nachos and brought it back to our hotel rooms. They ate their dinner on the patio outside our room. My friend, Wendy had recommended the Danish waffle, so I purchased one and shared it with the boys. It is a sweet flakey pastry filled with creme and a raspberry jam. Very rich and delicious. I also bought a creme puff and saved it for the morning.

Our hotel room is lovely. The hotel is newly remodeled and modernized. Joe informed Matt, "We don't normally stay at such nice hotels on our road trips." We will spend the day exploring Solvang and its tasty food. Tomorrow we will return to Santa Barbara before heading back to Marc and Jackie's. Time to get some breakfast!