We packed a lot into this trip. It began and ended with visiting my Aunt and Uncle in Santa Maria, CA. In between, Ellen and I did a six-day Trek Travels Bike Tour in Santa Barbara, just an hour south of Santa Maria, with my cousin David. This post has a LOT of pics. I broke them down into sections. Skip as needed. My goal is to leave you wanting more, not relieved you've come to the end...lol. Enjoy our first half of April and let me know if it's too long. I can always break them down into shorter blogs.
The Family Visit
We spent a lot of time in the home of these lovely people, talking, laughing, wandering the gardens and just generally enjoying each others company. We hadn't been to Santa Maria since...2015? Way too long. We also went to some great restaurants, Hearst Castle, a beach with Elephant seals, a coffee tour, and the April 5th protest.
Cow art. These flat plywood cows were scattered about town.
Turns out they live closer to Orcutt, just south of Santa Maria, so one day the girls wandered the streets of downtown Orcutt and this is what we found...
The architecture was fun, very Old West. The doors on the left are to a local dive bar I insisted we wander into. Ernie's? Emilio's? I forget but inside there were people day drinking at the bar. They were very nice and quite proud of their down.
We finished off with the famous Santa Maria style Barbecue. Don't think sauce, think tri-tip cooked over local red oak and seasoned with a special blend. It was delicious.
April 5th Protest
We couldn't attend the one in Flagstaff but want to be on the right part of history and try to save our nation from a fascist oligarchy so we found one in Santa Maria. While there we got to meet several of Sam and Nancy's friends. It was a great turnout!
Coffee Tour
In this barn are five rows of coffee plants. All different. They are being grown on a 6,000 acre lemon tree farm. They also have some exotic plants growing. These citrus fruits are one of them. They ARE edible but, not very good. They are mostly used in cooking and if you scratch them they smell really nice and can be used as an air freshener.
Once finished with the tour we entered a barn for a coffee tasting, paired with the proper color of chocolates. Judy and Ron, this is their retirement job, he from the Navy and she as a civilian military contractor of some sort. I enjoyed the tea pots for sale.
Hearst Castle
We went to Hearst Castle in San Simeon. I hadn't been in nearly 30 years. We did the Cottage and Kitchen Tour. Fascinating.
Two of the pools we saw, an indoor and an outdoor, are filled with spring water, SO clear.
Art on the grounds...
One of five cottages on the property and a bedroom. Hard to imagine people actually living in these rooms.
Ceilings and doorways in one of the cottages. a 5,000 square foot "cottage" to be clear. The craftsmanship was stunning even though the opulence was hard to take.
Architecture of the main castle.
Sam and Nancy heading down into the wine cellar. Gold plated faucet knobs and some spices. The kitchen was amazing.
Elephant Seals
Following the castle tour we drove five miles up the road to see the elephant seals. The pups were resting on the beach while on another nearby beach were the mamas. You can tell the difference because the mamas are molting.
The birds are from Morro Bay. We did a quick drive through on the way home.
On the bike (Santa Barbara and Los Olivos areas)
The parking situation and wall art at the restaurant we rode to for lunch.
Here's the scenery we were forced to endure along the way. Each day was 18-30 miles. 150 total for the six days. Very doable on a pedal assist bike.
More riding views from the week. It's a mix between Santa Barbara and the Los Olivos wine country.
We rode by these two mailboxes. Look! You can put the mail in his BUTT!! lol
The amazing van and trailer and our super human Trek guides. That food spread was provided by them for one of our lunches on a ride!
Stopping at a winery for lunch while on our bikes.
The Hotels
Our first hotel was amazing. El Encanto in Santa Barbara. SO luxurious. The grounds were beautiful, and you could see the ocean from several locations. Our room was the size of a small apartment.
In Los Olivos we stayed at The Inn at Mattei's Tavern. The room was more like a hotel room than an apartment and the grounds were also lovely. To the left if where we had our final, farewell dinner before our Solvang ride the next day. We had a GREAT group of riders. Only 11 of us.
Mission Santa Barbara
This fig tree was planted in 1900.
Santa Barbara off the bike
Dinner with the Fam in Santa Ynez.
Solvang
Our final ride was to the little Dutch town of Solvang. I could have spent all day there just photographing the flowers and architecture.
That's it, that's all I got. Let me know what you think and I hope you enjoyed this little snippet of our trip. Until next time...
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It's always fun seeing through your eyes. Great fun. I may have to give bike treks a try. It might be better than running for me. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Friend! It was great fun. We love bike tours. How's the ankle?
So glad to see you are living your best life! Enjoyed seeing the West coast! Thanks for sharing.
You are most welcome.
What a great trip and experience, had some good weather too it looks like. The whole blog was excellent, the sections made it really good!
Thanks Friend! Yes, the weather was amazing. It was cold and windy the first few days, but it cleared up for the bike trek.
What an amazing trip! Love the sunshine and smiley faces.
We can't wait to camp with you next weekend!!
I can’t believe everything you can pack into two weeks! What an amazing trip. It’s hard to pick a favorite out of that amazing cornucopia, but those mailboxes definitely spoke to me. 😆
Right?? I'm glad you liked the mailboxes. They were a highlight for me as well. Especially the biker...😂
Vicki - LOVED this!! As a lifelong East coast resident, I really enjoyed seeing the beautiful scenery of California, and the organized sections made for easy and enjoyable reading. So glad you are enjoying retirement! I’m curious though, as to what camera (s) you used. Thanks for the breath of fresh air this afternoon!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I took all the photos with my iPhone 13 mini, except for the elephant seals and the birds. That was my Lumix micro 4/3 and birding lens.
What amazing photos...and looks to be an amazing adventure as well! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! It was great fun. Is this Barb...Snider? The comment doesn't show a last name.
This is an amazing collection! I love your blogs. I always feel like I've been on the trips with you both. I am inspired to get out and travel more this summer. Happy Travels!