Disclaimer: Back in November 2005, when I was posting about our trip up the coast, we were severely limited regarding photos I could post on the blog due to bandwidth limitations. Here in 2022, I’m updating these posts using the original image and text, but I’m adding the rest of the photos I would have liked to share 16 years ago if bandwidth and storage had not been an issue.
We had to backtrack about 10 miles from our motel, but there’s nowhere else near Santa Barbara where we can find a room for under $60, so it was well worth the minor inconvenience.
Things really got kicked into action with breakfast at Sambo’s. Every time we eat here, we wonder if it’ll be the last time before the times catch up with them and force a name change.
The giant Moreton Bay Fig Tree in Santa Barbara that I’ve been visiting since I was a kid and has been growing here for almost 130 years.
Off the Santa Barbara coast, we can easily see the Channel Islands, well not looking this way as the shot is from the end of Stearns Wharf looking northwest, but I hope you get the idea.
Erected every Sunday since 2003, this is Arlington West, symbolizing the soldiers who died in the Iraq war.
In L.A., we are stunned at how extraordinarily clear the skies are.
We hiked up the Hollywood Hills to Griffith Park Observatory for a view that allowed us to see the most southerly of the Channel Islands – Santa Barbara Island (60 miles as the crow flies), then west to Santa Catalina Island and east to what appeared to be the mountains down by Palm Springs (90 miles away).
We watched airplanes taking off from LAX, looked upon the high rises of downtown, and visually followed Western Avenue to the ocean.
Time to cut our hike out here off as we are still about 7 hours away from home.
What was that, John? Well, there’s always time for Northwoods Inn. I wonder, how long will it be before this restaurant has to remove this painting due to naked breasts offending the sensibilities of adults who don’t want their children to know what they fed from their first months of life?
This is the last photo of this 5-day journey up and down the coast and a great trip it was. From this point, at the intersection of the 10 freeway and the 71, we are under 6 hours from home, and with no ocean, forest, butterflies, whales, naked ladies, or jellyfish on this route, I’m pretty sure we’ll just keep on driving till we get there.