Goleta Vagabonding Redux and Getaway to Morro Bay

We were back in Goleta with Emily at her studio apartment for the remainder of September. Upon arrival, we had a couple of days of lingering effects of fires, but air quality soon improved and has been good since. Hoping it will remain that way. So many people impacted and those firefighters are true heroes.

Since Emily was still working at arrival, we had lots of beautiful days in the neighborhood:

Beach days

 

This way to the beach!

These rocks and the photos below are from Arroyo Burro Beach, also called Hendry's by the locals (that's what we call it 😁😎). This beach is a bit more rugged and is great for walking. 

There are many interesting rocks, some shells, many birds and other sea creatures. On our last visit, I captured (for my Seek app) two different sea anemones! 

     

L to R: Scaled worm snail, a cool rock (love the textures and colors), aggregating anemone, and feather boa kelp (notice how the root is attached to that huge rock, yet it still washed in: the power of tides!)

Nearest to Emily's place are Goleta Beach Park and UCSB's Coal Oil Point. Goleta Beach Park, where you can walk out on to the pier and be over the water, is our go-to spot for keeping cool. We've also seen several great sunsets there. My nickname for the cliffs at Coal Oil Point is the Corona Cliffs, as this is where mask and social distancing behavior is most neglected. It is closest to Emily's place and very beautiful, but one has to be vigilant about surroundings when going there.

   

Emily Seeking at the Cliffs and Excellent Insect Capture (Common Buckeye and West Coast Lady)

 

Another beautiful sunset at Goleta Pier

Our favorite hanging out beach is East Beach in Santa Barbara. There is lots of room to spread out, beautiful sand, clear water and often a lovely view of sailboats in the bay. It also has a nice tree-lined linear park, in case you don't want to get sandy.

A cool day with marine layer (not smoke) and a warm, clear day. Both are great!

Cooking and Baking

Emily enjoys cooking and has recently been expanding into baking (check out her blog). Since I brought some See's chocolate chips with me, we decided to make chocolate chip cookies. Our friend Brenda, who always makes the best holiday treats, also sent us a recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies that we wanted to try, especially since we had some delicious golden raisins from our transit stop in Gilroy.

  

Emily and John also got their master grill on several times. The salmon and steak were both fab!

  

A Day Trip to Los Alamos

Our friend Kristen works at Dovecote Estate Winery and invited us to come out and visit the beautiful grounds.

  

View from the tasting shack. Kristen said the grapes are referred to as berries. You can see why!

The Estate also offers retreats, with lodgings and activities. I was especially intrigued for the wine tasting, since they make a variety I love, viognier. All 4 wines we tasted were delicious, but the whites, the viognier and the grenache blanc were my favorites (both of which we brought home, cheers!). As a bonus, Kristen's mom Nancy joined us, and we had a wonderful time conversing with and getting to know her.

If you're in California, make an appointment with Kristen to visit this beautiful spot or schedule a retreat!

Getaway to Morro Bay

We had hoped during Emily's break that we could go see the Grand Canyon. However, the limited opening didn't seem worth an 18 hour round trip drive, so we decided on a beach break to one of our favorite beach towns, Morro Bay.

The main feature of Morro Bay is Morro Rock and the state park around it. Here there is a beach, camping, hiking, a heron rookery, and an estuary natural preserve. We enjoyed views of the rock at many different times of day, from many perspectives, including walking part of the way around it.

 

Up close on our hike, close, farther, far

On our hike, we also saw this, which seems cool at first glance, but scientists want people to stop! Interestingly, we chatted with some locals near this area, and they said that these rock sculptures have popped up in a rather short period of time. Seems like a fad, like the locks on the Paris bridge. 

Sea otters and sea lions are another key feature of the bay. We decided to get a little closer and enjoy the beautiful weather on a short bay tour by boat. I love being out on the water, getting the fresh air, seeing the area from another perspective. 

The sea otters are so fun to watch. I like how they wrap themselves all up in the kelp so they can just float in place. Others like to swim on their backs in a playful way.

   

The sea lions chilling. At night we could hear them at our hotel several blocks away.

Another view of Morro Rock

The boat had an underwater viewing feature. For Michigan friends, these are a type of smelt. The captain said the 'least tasty kind.' Emily got to take the helm on the way back in. She did a great job!

We saw several other interesting creatures, and many seemed like they were posing for us (this almost never happens to me, by the way). Seek never did identify the species of this squirrel, but good photo!

The most amusing creature was this Brandt's Cormorant. We were sitting in the car, masking up, when it just started coming towards us. Emily and I both grabbed our cameras, opening our Seek apps. It waddled like a duck all the way up to the car and then was very interested in exploring Marina. No fear! Emily also found this cool sand dollar, called an Eccentric Sand Dollar. 

We wrapped up the day with an afternoon swim, some delicious fish tacos, and a phenomenal sunset!

Emily braved the cold Pacific. None of us are fans of taffy, but we had to try the pickle flavor!

John and I are now comfortably settled in to our AirBnB in the San Roque neighborhood of Santa Barbara. I'm loving the moon view!

We're here for October and November, continuing to explore the Santa Barbara bucket list and living one day at a time.