On Saturday Les and Bro. Hector Flores rode the Cool Breeze Century in 6 hours, 5 minutes. It's 100 miles from Ventura to Goleta and back. This is one of Les' favorite century rides and it's "cool" that it falls close to his birthday every year. Three years ago he did his longest ride ever by riding from our house to Ventura, riding the Cool Breeze, then riding home - 200 miles! He's amazing!
Yesterday morning we hopped on the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and rode to Santa Barbara. It is such a great way to travel - 90 minutes to go 80 miles in So. Cal! And I'm sure we would have spent as much on gas and parking as the tickets cost.
It was still a little overcast when we arrived in Santa Barbara around 10:15, but the day turned out to be gorgeous. We started out by having breakfast at the original Sambo's on Cabrillo Blvd. FYI - the Sambo's name came from the names of the two founders of Sambo's - Sam Battistone and Newell "Bo" Bohnett.
After breakfast our adventure was in full swing! We first rented a motorboat and headed out to sea for an hour. We saw a seal or sea lion - I'm not sure which one lives around Santa Barbara! We then rented a tandem bicycle and rode it for an hour. I guess the bike rental place must have known that Les is getting "older" because they gave us a tandem with a white basket on the front! We spent the remainder of the afternoon strolling up and down State Street. There was a farmers' market going - something you would never see on a Saturday since they had State Street closed for several blocks.
Our final stop for the day was at The Harbor Restaurant on the pier. We started out with Lobster Spring Rolls, then we both ordered Prime Rib - something we never eat! It was delicious. We finished our meal by splitting a piece of boysenberry pie that was actually a small pie of its own, lots of yummy crust!
A summary of the day - we rode (train, boat, bike) and ate our way through Santa Barbara and enjoyed every minute! All these pictures were taken with Les' iPhone - I was surprised that so many turned out as well as they did!
10 comments:
Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Thanks for sharing the pictures. :)
That sounds like a ton of fun- lucky you!
We did have a great time! I never get tired of being by the ocean.
I heard about the cruise you "Gazelles" are taking - I know you'll have a blast!
What a FUN birthday!!! From the inception of your travels on the train, which I absolutely LOVE, to the bike ride, to the boat ride, to the leisurely strolls -- it sounds sooooooooo wonderful and relaxing!! Thanks for sharing all your wonderful pics, and it looks like your hubby had a great time celebrating the big 45!! Lastly, the food sounds absolutely DELICIOUS!!!
I think the best part of the day was we didn't have ANY thing planned except the location! There was no "We have to be here at 11:00, there at 1:00, etc." When we got done with our boat ride, I said, "What next?" and we wandered around until we decided on a bike ride! It seemed like a really long day that way. I think I need to wait a few days before I step on the scale, though!
Happy Bday Bro. Mac! You can plan a birthday trip for any of us anytime... sounds fun & so relaxing!
You guys really should do this and take the train! Bro. Charles would love it! If you don't want to be as active as we were, Santa Barbara has a great zoo. You can ride the city shuttle from Amtrak to the zoo for 25 cents!
Just went on your trip with you. Sounded like so much fun. We've done the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner to Santa Barbara from Grover Beach (then through SimiVal and onto San Diego). Love the idea of no hassle travel. We've done the Sambos, the State Street, and The Harbor Restaurant - but forget the motorboat in the ocean and the tandem bike (a golf cart that's another story). lol So glad Les had such a special birthday - seems like his birthday girl had everything in control.
Isn't Santa Barbara great? We never run out of things to do or see.
Les had 2 requests for his birthday - go "somewhere" and NOT drive. An easy request to honor.
Sounds like you had my kind of FUN! Why wasn't I invited, anyway?? LOL I just went to Santa Barbara for the first time in May when I had friends here from Vancouver, and S. Carolina. We had a blast that day! It won't be my last trip to Santa Barbara!!Glad you both had a good time...Now how will Les top this for YOUR next birthday???? lol lol
Post a Comment