Yes, it’s raining again. We’ve found umbrellas in our rooms so they must know something. Apparently they had five years of dreadful drought but last year, and this, things have been exceptionally damper. Never mind, plenty to do under cover and we do have those umbrellas.

First thought was to go to the local Mission but that was a mistake. As we arrived and couldn’t find anywhere to park we realised it was Sunday and, as has been mentioned before, all the missions still have services. So we thought let’s go for a drive and see some local scenery.

Just off the Santa Barbara coast we saw what looked like tankers in the distance but they are Offshore Platforms. They are due to be decommissioned in the next 10 years but have been in place since 1958.  The Santa Barbara channel is rich in petroleum.

We drove out to Montecito, just a few miles away. My word, they have some big houses there.  The ginger chap and his missus were in Florida so no danger of knocking him down on his daily run.  It’s a lovely area and you can understand why Oprah, Gwyneth, Ellen de G and Ariana Grande to name but a few live there.  Don’t know how anyone knows who their neighbours are though.

( we didn’t take this one.)

After that we thought we’d have a last drive into the mountains. There really are mountains everywhere, the Santa Ynez, the Sierra Madre, the Pine mountains and so many national forests and state parks.  Plenty of choice for a weekend away.

Round every corner is a view. This is Lake Casitas that was suddenly in front of us. It’s a reservoir used now for fishing and water sports as well as providing drinking water and irrigation.  In the 1984 Olympics it was used for the rowing and canoeing events.

You can see the cloud was still heavy and hung over the peaks.

Something that we regularly saw in the mountains were eagles. Sadly a phone just can’t capture them so the sight of them in groups, often as many as 10, will just have to be one of our amazing memories. 

But then the sun suddenly appears, as it did today.  Hooray!!

We took ourselves to Ventura and the band America, with their 1972 hit Ventura Highway, accompanied us to the Pacific Highway as we turned back to Santa Barbara.

Now yesterday we did Walmart but today we went considerably upmarket and visited the Paseo Nuevo Mall in Santa Barbara. It’s outside so we stayed in the sun.     No prices of course.     ‘If you have to ask how much it is, you can’t afford it.’  J.P.Morgan.

We came away empty handed. 

Sadly we had to get back to the hotel and get our heads round the imminent end to this road trip.  Sue had a spooky moment when she looked up the book she has to read for WI book club next week (really down to earth now). Turns out it’s about a maid who finds a body in room 401 –  yes, Sue is in room 401 and when we left her earlier she was just checking under the bed.   There are other things we are looking forward to getting back to, excluding family, friends and pets.   Sheila can’t wait to get back to Andrex – US toilet roll is thin enough to read the paper through.  Sue just needs good old British chocolate – they just cannot make proper tasting choc.  Janice had missed skimmed milk and can’t wait for a proper cup of tea. 

Last dinner done but not quite the last blog.  We have to share our last day as we go to LAX and we still need to tell you about the parking meter and their quaint ways to make sure you observe the limits on the Freeway.

And we have to share some more signs….