Santa Barbara

I was up at 6:40 this morning. Even though it was a rest day, I wanted to get up and say goodbye to the people from our tour that were going home. I did that at the breakfast buffet. Our continental buffet was sparse, but good. I had juice, coffee, oatmeal, a scone and a croissant.

After I went to my room, I got out my cleaning supplies and made my bicycle look a lot better. I didn’t want to waste a clean bike, so I put on my cycling clothes and went exploring Santa Barbara.

First, I went out to the levee and got some good views of the harbor and of the hills. It was sunny at the beach and downtown, but there was high coastal fog in the hills. It was illegal to ride my bike on the sidewalk to the levee, so I walked and pushed my bike.

Next, I rode to the wharf. This time I could ride out on the bumpy, timbered roadway. They allow cars to drive on it but they have to go very slowly. There was not much to see on the wharf – several restaurants and shops.

Continuing on my tour, I rode south on the bicycle path along the beach out to the bird refuge where I saw Pat and Chris with their binoculars and tripod.

I turned around and rode back to State Street, the main street that is perpendicular to the ocean. There are bike lanes on both side of State Street and there are about 100 traffic lights. This is good for taming traffic, but it is hard on the cyclists who must constantly click out and into their pedals. I rode up the street until it got uninteresting. Then I turned and went over to the Santa Barbara Courthouse.

Lunch today was back at the harbor. I ordered fish and chips from the Minnow Cafe, a little hole-in-the-wall, and sat in the sun eating it. It was very good – fresh and not greasy. Vinegar, but no mushy peas.

We had our orientation meeting tonight at our dinner restaurant – Eladio’s. As is customary, each person gave a self-introduction. This is a smaller group than the one from San Francisco. There are four of us carried over from that trip plus eight more.

My dinner was very good. I had clam chowder, mahi mahi and tiramisu. I couldn’t eat it all.

It’s now 9:10. I’m going to read for a while and then get to sleep. Tomorrow is not a long riding day, but we expect showers later in the day. So I’m going to get up early and leave soon after breakfast.