In early August we made a trip to Santa Barbara. We've made many trips there but we did a few interesting and different things that made this one especially memorable.
Over the weekend it was the Santa Barabara Fiesta. This is celebration of the Mexican - Hispanic heritage of the area with all sorts of hispanic cultural things going on. On Friday there was a parade down State Street (the main street through town) and while I am not much for parades this one was very interesting. It turns out to be the largest horse parade in the US (maybe the entire world). There was a succession of riders, carriages, carts, and bands parading down the street. The horses were all well groomed and coiffured and the riders were equally well-adorned. Many of the horses were doing this prancing-dancing thing which looks very bizarre for a horse (possibly some sort of Tennessee Walking Horse or a Peruvian Paso). I am not sure how they train them but I swear they were keeping in pretty good time with the music.
Over the weekend we made a tour of the Santa Barbara Courthouse. A wonderful building built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style after the 1925 earthquake (apparently all construction in the center of town is Spanish style following the earthquake). The building is a working courthouse but is also open for tours and we had a great docent leading our tour. Of note are the clock in the tower, the view from the top of the tower, the abundant asymmetry in the architectural design, the bridge of sighs from the jail to the court building (not as impressive as it's Venetian namesake alas), the murals and paintings and a beautiful copper clad door. Well worth a visit.
One thing we found out on the tour is that good old Saint Barbara had her saintliness revoked by the Catholic Church. Apparently they couldn't validate her miracles (like they can all the rest) so she was thrown out of the club. What a shame.
On Saturday morning we joined a guided tour of the Carpinteria Salt Marsh. Our guide was quite knowledgeable and very knowledgeable about Coyote Bush galls. We spent a lot of time looking at them. Not too much bird life - a little late in the morning - Egrets, Willets, Semi-palmated Plovers, Kildeers, and some other hard to identify Sandpiper type things.
On Monday we took a trip out to Anacapa Island one of the Channel Islands that mark the edge of the Santa Barbara Channel. It was about a 1 hour boat trip from the Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard. Fortunately the sea was relatively calm. We landed on East Anacapa (there's an East and a West but the West is closed to humans as it is a Brown Pelican breeding area). Since there are no beaches on the island there is no easy natural landing - just a jetty clinging to the side of a cliff with an elaborate stairway up to the top.
Once we were on top it became evident what the main activity was on the island - it is the largest breeding spot for Western Gulls. They are everywhere and they are noisy when humans are in close proximity to their young. They also make the place quite smelly - the large quantities of gull excrement has an acrid smell and it paints much of the island white. This years chicks were mostly fledged by the time of our visit. They are quite large, almost as large as their parents, but they have this weak high pitched mewing sound which is weird when compared to the noisy cackle of the adults.
Despite all the smelly birds, the island is quite beautiful - majestic cliffs above a clear ocean, seals frolicking in the water and lounging on the shore, gigantic kelp fronds swirling in the water.
We pretty much covered every trail on the island before leaving around 3:30 for the boat ride back. Brandt's Cormorants, Brown Pelicans and Black Vented Shearwaters added a bit of variety to the dominance of the gulls.
To add more interest to the trip I came home on the train while Nancy stayed on and went down to Laguna Beach. No problem you would think but I had left my wallet behind in Sacramento so I had no picture ID. I didn't think about it until I tried to buy a ticket at the station and was told no ID then no ticket, even a photo of my passport which I have on my iPad would not be accepted. The bus option also was not available to me. Just like Amtrak you can't buy a Greyhound bus ticket without a photo ID.
Well you don't need a Photo ID to buy a ticket on the internet so I figured perhaps they wouldn't check IDs to board the train and no, they didn't check. The Amtrak website saved the day but also bypassed their security measures.
It is a lovely ride up the coast from Santa Barbara. The train hugs the coast for a long while then cuts north through the Vandenburg Air Force Base area (signs of rocket launch sites and even a new SpaceX commercial launch site). After a while the slowness of the train got to me though. It took 12 hours from Santa Barbara to Sacramento - a route that can be driven in around 6 hours.
Over the weekend it was the Santa Barabara Fiesta. This is celebration of the Mexican - Hispanic heritage of the area with all sorts of hispanic cultural things going on. On Friday there was a parade down State Street (the main street through town) and while I am not much for parades this one was very interesting. It turns out to be the largest horse parade in the US (maybe the entire world). There was a succession of riders, carriages, carts, and bands parading down the street. The horses were all well groomed and coiffured and the riders were equally well-adorned. Many of the horses were doing this prancing-dancing thing which looks very bizarre for a horse (possibly some sort of Tennessee Walking Horse or a Peruvian Paso). I am not sure how they train them but I swear they were keeping in pretty good time with the music.
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| Santa Barbara Fiesta |
One thing we found out on the tour is that good old Saint Barbara had her saintliness revoked by the Catholic Church. Apparently they couldn't validate her miracles (like they can all the rest) so she was thrown out of the club. What a shame.
On Saturday morning we joined a guided tour of the Carpinteria Salt Marsh. Our guide was quite knowledgeable and very knowledgeable about Coyote Bush galls. We spent a lot of time looking at them. Not too much bird life - a little late in the morning - Egrets, Willets, Semi-palmated Plovers, Kildeers, and some other hard to identify Sandpiper type things.
On Monday we took a trip out to Anacapa Island one of the Channel Islands that mark the edge of the Santa Barbara Channel. It was about a 1 hour boat trip from the Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard. Fortunately the sea was relatively calm. We landed on East Anacapa (there's an East and a West but the West is closed to humans as it is a Brown Pelican breeding area). Since there are no beaches on the island there is no easy natural landing - just a jetty clinging to the side of a cliff with an elaborate stairway up to the top.
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| Anacapa Island |
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| Western Gulls |
We pretty much covered every trail on the island before leaving around 3:30 for the boat ride back. Brandt's Cormorants, Brown Pelicans and Black Vented Shearwaters added a bit of variety to the dominance of the gulls.
To add more interest to the trip I came home on the train while Nancy stayed on and went down to Laguna Beach. No problem you would think but I had left my wallet behind in Sacramento so I had no picture ID. I didn't think about it until I tried to buy a ticket at the station and was told no ID then no ticket, even a photo of my passport which I have on my iPad would not be accepted. The bus option also was not available to me. Just like Amtrak you can't buy a Greyhound bus ticket without a photo ID.
Well you don't need a Photo ID to buy a ticket on the internet so I figured perhaps they wouldn't check IDs to board the train and no, they didn't check. The Amtrak website saved the day but also bypassed their security measures.
It is a lovely ride up the coast from Santa Barbara. The train hugs the coast for a long while then cuts north through the Vandenburg Air Force Base area (signs of rocket launch sites and even a new SpaceX commercial launch site). After a while the slowness of the train got to me though. It took 12 hours from Santa Barbara to Sacramento - a route that can be driven in around 6 hours.
