Wandering around one of my favorite places!

Fri. Nov. 21 : Santa Barbara - the weather, variety of place to go, the beauty, the peace, the healthy environment; memories of young motherhood and marriage -- such good memories!! I am thankful for a lot of things - yet one in particular is that I had the opportunity to live here at one time, and now to visit occasionally. It gets harder to leave each time!
today mike and I (and ella of course) ventured out to find a good walk/hike. now I have planned for the past few years to do some good hiking here when I have the chance and even have the map of hiking places in SB. yet this visit was a last minute thought and hiking was not the priority so I was not really prepared. didn't have the map. i took a quick look on the Internet, asked a friend where to go and off we went not really knowing the path we would take. we started up painted cave road in the SB hills hoping to find good path (as my friend told me we would see them off the road). after getting to just about the top of the mountain and some good winding and turning; and a quick stop to actually peak inside a rock cave with actually paintings from the Chumash indians from a long time ago , we came to a parking spot and found a trail. the trail was a nice one with some different vegetation than napa. the path came to an unexpected end with a great overlook of the city and the ocean. although this day was a bit overcast so the view was a bit obscured -- still pretty. because the path ended before we were ready to stop walking we needed to find another spot. this trail gave us about 40 minutes with 2 good aerobic hills. after winding off painted cave road we realized we were half way to Cachuma lake and decided to see what good walk that had for us. Cachuma lake is pretty and with very clean water ) i learned it is actually the water SB uses in the city and therefore there is no swimming for people or dogs. they have 4 good hiking trails with different distances. because it was getting late and we already walked we decided to take a smaller trail next to the lake away from campers. (yes, it has a good campsite and I would consider camping there in the future). it turned out this trail was too short but enjoyable! for today as far as hiking goes it felt a bit scattered and too short but the day was excellent with mike -- the driving, the mystery of where we were actually going :-), the calm and peaceful feeling.
Next time in SB I will bring that hiking map and plan a good long day hike - maybe a few :-)!!

Sat. Nov. 22 Coastal hike : before heading back home we wanted to take a good walk with nikelle. so seth, mike, nikelle, and ella parked in Goleta and took the coastal hike. this was a very enjoyable hike. it took us through a neat little forest of trees. not really sure the name of the trees -- yet they were real twisty. and out to the top of a hill above the beach. following this trail along this hill gradually brings you to beach level. after a quick romp on the beach (ahhhh the smell, feel and sound of the ocean :-) we headed back. all together I believe the walking was about 30 minutes each way. and a wet and dirty little time for ella!!









it was a very good thanksgiving weekend!! and 26 year anniversary for mike and I -- 16 years after our renewal celebration!!