Once Upon a Time on the Left Coast

Today I was at the doctor's getting checked out for injuries I suffered while in Santa Barbara two weeks ago. We had a lot of fun most of the time we were there. We had arrived on Tuesday afternoon, checked into the motel, and Claudette did some laundry before we went exploring. We stayed in the same motel as we did in '07.  After the laundry was done we went down to the beach and drove along until we took a right on State Street.  We were going to the same restaurant we visited five years ago. Susie, that's the name Claudette gave the GPS voice on her phone, guided us there.  It was amazing; we were once again on State Street for market day.  Each Tuesday the city closes two blocks of State to traffic, and farmers and other venders put up their stalls for selling. It was almost a carnival atmosphere with colorful stalls, merchandise, and musicians, as well as scores of slim, tan people with sunglasses, some with bicycles. Such a cocophany of sound and color!  There were, of course, what appeared to be students handing out flyers advocating "throwing off the enslavement by large corporations".

We enjoyed our sandwiches of roast turkey with vegetables served by a slim girl in short shorts and abbreviated t-shirt.  She was slightly pierced and had Mauri inspired tattoos. I had a new beverage, a blackberry juice concentrate with sparkling water in an icy long-necked bottle. The Natural Cafe lived up to my memories, although I don't remember the small birds flying in to pick up the dropped crumbs. After eating and shopping we retired to our motel.

The next day for breakfast Claudette was ecstatic about finding a Sambo's Restaurant. They were a chain when she lived in California many years ago. On the walls hung reproductions of pages from the Little Black Sambo storybook we had as children. The Sambo's in Santa Barbara is the only survivor of the chain. Claudette said the breakfast was not as good as she remembered.  After  breakfast we kicked back in the motel, awaiting the arrival of family members from San Diego.

They joined us in our visit to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.  It's a a very good museum for a city of ninety thousand. There was an exhibit of Van Gogh to Munch which was quite good.  I was surprised to see so many Monets in the permanent collection. There  was also a photography exhibit depicting California's love affair with the automobile. The Asian exhibit was very interesting also and was predominantly Japanese and Indian. I'm not real sure about the significance of the voluptuousness of the Indian female form. A favorite of mine was a full set of Samurai armor and a collection of  katonas. Many of the swords were short, and there was a collection of guards. Shades of The Last Samurai. 

After about two hours in the museum we ventured over to the Spanish style county courthouse, completed in 1826 and considered one of the most beautiful in America.  Its great halls are decorated with paintings of colonial California. The courthouse and its grounds are often used as a site for weddings and other events. While we were there a graduation exercise was being held.  But there was not  cannon in sight and Saint Barbara is the patron saint of cannoneers. A sign of the times no doubt?

That evening we had dinner at a tapas restaurant, Alcazar.  Although it was located in a strip mall near Highway 101 the food was outstanding. Dates wrapped in bacon and fried are one of my favorites. No one complained about this food. After an enjoyable breakfast the next morning we said goodbye to our family and headed east.

About my tumble. We were returning to the motel and were walking by the pool when I tripped and kissed the sidewalk. The tall brown Brazilian women cavorting by the pool in extremely brief bikinis had NOTHING to do with my fall. And according to the x-rays, I suffered no broken bones.