Santa Barbara to Los Angeles

Saturday August 23

My Santa Barbara vacation buddy Corey left to go back to LA on Friday and stayed in Santa Barbara Friday night and part of Saturday. I had a most delicious dinner at the Montecito Café of linguine & clams, with crème brulee for dessert! Yummy. The bed in my room was fabulous! Not a single back pain upon arising either morning. That's a first.

I decided before I headed to LA myself that I wanted to find the elusive Santa Barbara Lighthouse. The last time I made a trip down this direction I tried to find it and could not. I got the best directions off the Internet that I could find and headed out on Saturday morning. No wonder it wasn't easy to find. It's not marked, it's behind closed and locked gates and fencing, and you can only see it from a pedestrian path on the water side of the park . . . again, absolutely no signage saying it was there. My lighthouse book tells me otherwise, but oh well. I found it and took the best picture I could. Not too impressive.

Santa Barbara Lighthouse

Then I got on Highway 101, opened the windows, cranked up the music and drove the last leg of my journey southbound. It was a gorgeous day, and when I was on the water I could hardly keep my eyes on the road. Beautiful teals, blues, greens. Gorgeous!

This picture doesn't even do the colors justice.

I should have just pulled off the road and spent the rest of my vacation right here, as when I hit traffic coming into Los Angeles my whole free spirit went flying out the window. It was hot and slow and gross. Couldn't wait to get off the highway.

Finally arrived at 1541 1/2 Silver Lake Blvd in Los Angeles, where I have spent the last 2 full days. I got into town early enough on Saturday that Corey and I could actually drive to Malibu and have dinner at Duke's. I love the atmosphere of this restaurant. It's where I took myself to dinner for my 50th birthday and loved every minute of it. The view does not get any better. The waves are right outside the windows of the restaurant. We waited a few extra minutes to get a table so we could get one of the window booths.

 

When we got to our table the window was closed. I think they had the windows closed when the tide was up pretty high and the waves crashing on the rocks would throw water through the window onto the patrons dining within. I was willing to take the chance because I wanted the fresh air and to hear the sound of the waves. The people in the booth behind me wanted me to open the window also. So, we did. The first time I got splashed was just a little sprinkle, but the second time was like a full blown shower! It was awesome! My whole seat and the right side of my body got drenched. I just smiled, did a little happy dance, and continued eating my most fabulous king crab leg dinner. Heavenly!! It was sooooooo much fun!