23 - 26 OCTOBER : SANTA BARBARA

Days 36-39 :

The Sunday Times article advised missing out 'dull' Santa Barbara but how could we not visit the 'Riviera' of Southern California?

Solvang:
Luckily Mr. Corrales at the La Purisima Mission had suggested we visit Solvang on the way or we might well have missed it.
Denmark in the middle of Southern California! Established in 1911 by Danish 'educators' (?), it's now a tourist mecca, but no less charming for that.

It had been all of an hour since Steve had tucked into 2 breakfasts, so time for a chocolate and cream Danish pastry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solvang,_California#The_beginnings

Santa Barbara:
First impressions were not good, the Highway cutting the town in half, but we grew to like this definitely glamourous place! Its palm trees, weather and sun-drenched beaches were reminiscent of Cannes or St Tropez.


Harbour and Beach:
Inevitably, we spent some time on the beach here. Well, the temperature is in the 80s, and who wouldn't when it has a beach like this?

There was also a large grassy area near the beach, obviously used for training  by local football teams.

We strolled along the harbour admiring the boats and yachts.......

........and learning about the fishing industry and its varied catch.

These disgusting-looking things are 'sea cucumbers' and are used in making sushi.

You can buy the fresh catch on the quay, though we doubt the queue for the cucumbers is too long!!!

Also on the harbour is an excellent fish restaurant, Brophy Brothers, which we enjoyed.  We did not  try the Oyster Shooter (vodka's not our tipple) but the clam chowder, sea bass and swordfish were ace.
Stearns Wharf:
A little further along the beach is the older Stearn's Wharf, built in 1927. This was full of surprises: we joined the throng looking at a school of dolphins out at sea, and walked close enough to a pelican we could have stretched out and touched it.

Drilling offshore:
You can't miss the evidence of off-shore drilling, but it is on the horizon and doesn't, as yet, spoil the place. It's obviously a double-edged sword, not least as energy self-sufficiency is featuring so prominently in the election campaign.
http://www.calwatchdog.com/2012/02/17/dormant-santa-barbara-oil-leases-reopened/

Shark attack:
We hadn't been planning on anything more than a paddle anyway.
(A surfer was attacked and killed just off the coast at Morro Bay where we'd been a few days previously.)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20052152

The Reagan Ranch Centre Exhibit Gallery:
We decided to give this one a miss. Having lived through the Reagan era and its associated Reagan-Thatcher love-fest, we didn't think we needed to be 'inspired by his lasting accomplishments' or to see the 'rare Reagan-related memorabilia such as campaign buttons, posters and commemorative items' promised in the Centre's advertising. Pity there wasn't an opportunity to see Ranch del Cielo, Reagan's western White House though.

Santa Barbara Mission:
Another Mission and, although it's called the 'Queen of Missions', a bit of a disappointment. Perhaps the problem was our decision to take the guided tour with a docent: nice man, but he declared from the start that he wasn't a 'guide' and he wasn't going to talk about the mission's history. So....what was he going to do? Waffle-on unfortunately.
Hopefully, the Queen had been more successful when she'd visited.

The exterior has been rebuilt a number of times since the 1790s because of earthquake damage, and partially reinforced to meet current earthquake-proofing regulations.

The church was built and decorated by Chumach Indians but to a design strictly specified by the Spanish Franciscan friars.........

......the only examples of true Chumach artwork being a few ceiling decorations and paintings.....

.....and this altar and tabernacle.

Malibu:
The last lap: 2 nights in Santa Monica and then the flight home.
We stopped for an hour or so at one of the beautiful beaches alongside Highway 1 in Malibu.
Malibu doesn't look like a town or city in the conventional sense as the 'town' stretches for over 20 miles, hugging the beach the whole way. A few huge houses perched precariously on the mountains rising up from the shoreline. Many beach-loving superstars (e.g. Leonardo di Caprio,and Jennifer Aniston) have homes here, but then they can afford the $20+ million price-tags.

The beaches we stretched out on were practically deserted at this time of year despite a temperature of 84 F at midday.

22 OCTOBER 2012: LA PURISIMA MISSION, LOMPOC

Day 35:

Everyone we spoke to about it couldn't understand why we would want to go to Lompoc, but Sue had kept a Road Trip article from the Sunday Times (17/06/2012) that said it was a place to go...so we decided to give it a try.
What's there? A large Federal Penitentiary (prison), Vandenberg Air Force Base, NASA and a Spanish mission. Guess which one we were headed for?

Arroyo Grande:
We stopped here for coffee en route to Lompoc, and really liked it. It had the feel of a 'real' place.....

.....with a sense of humour.

La Purisima Mission:

Just outside Lompoc is this Mission, the 11th of 21 missions established by Spanish Franciscan friars, and paid for by Spain, in 1787 to colonise California. Spain's control of the area was waning in the face of competition from Mexico so the Spanish aimed to Christianise the local Chumash Indians so they would become Spanish citizens and build New Spain.
The Spanish aim was unsuccessful. By 1821 Spain had abandoned Alta California and cut off all financial aid to the missions. They were handed over to Mexico but declined so much that by 1846, when America claimed California, little remained.
This decline was only halted in the 1930s, when as part of Roosevelt's 'New Deal', the CCC  (Civilain Conservation Corps) began a restoration project. Sue was particularly fascinated by this having taught this period of American History for many years.

Before we set off to explore the restored Mission buildings we went to the Visitors' Centre where we were fortunate to meet  Mr. George Corrales ( a lively and positive-thinking 88 year old) who gave us loads of interesting information about what we were about to see. Hopefully Mr Corrales is reading this now on his internet TV!

A confessional box.

Hopefully Steve wasn't as bored as he looked!

Outside were reconstructions of the areas where the Chumash Indians had lived.

Similar to the Navajo hogans we'd seen in Utah.....

....but the Chumach did not weave the reeds, just hung them over poles to create walls.

3rd. Presidential Debate:
As luck would have it, we were able to watch all of this last debate in the Hospitality Lounge (free wine, beer, nibbles) of the hotel we were in that night. We could also gauge the reaction of others watching (generally pro-Obama) and to have a quick chat about it later with a lady who was working there (very much pro-Obama and fearful of a Romney foreign policy). All the news coverage of the election we've seen here....and we've seen a lot.....has been pretty light-weight and superficial to our mind, so the length and detail of this debate was quite a contrast. So much so, it was difficult to concentrate on all that was said.