California 2010 Day 3

The morning dawned foggy. The day ended foggy. Somewhere in between we did a road trip down to Santa Barbara. Our route took us from the hills above town where we enjoyed a walk thru the Botanical Gardens...









The Botanical Gardens are located in Mission Canyon. It's name comes from the 1786 Santa Barbara Mission, the 10th established mission in California. The mission created water ducts to get water from the canyon above to the mission below. These water ways run right through the center of the Gardens. The carved animal face is thought to be the oldest known carving in the state. The structure it's attached to is a 30ft long rectangular shallow pool used for washing clothes.





















Now that we'd worked up an appetite, we got on State street and drove thru the center of town. The lower end is filled with small shops and worth the visit. The end of State St is the wharf. We parked and walked out on the pier, looking for a good seafood lunch. Thinking we'd come millions of miles and gotten away from it all, we thought a quite meal at the Moby Dick restaurant would be just the ticket. We found a nice quiet table - well, that didn't last long! It turned out that my niece and her hubby were celebrating their 6th anniversary and were seated 3 tables away! We had a wonderful time getting caught up on life. What a surprise.



The drive back was just as enjoyable as the drive down. The last pic is the wonderful sunny sunset as viewed from my sister's place on the hillside above Oceano and Pismo Beach. Yeah, right.