Hi, remember me? This is an update on us. What I did this past weekend.

A little more about us and what we like to do.

There is always something going on in Santa Barbara for our entertainment. In fact, there are always a bunch of things going on here for people to enjoy.

November 11, 2009 Hey, hey;

I had some fun last night. There is a 52 meter (171ft) sailing yacht at port in Santa Barbara right now. She sails in about twice a year.

Last night I was fortunate enough to be shown around. It is a privately owned yacht and almost no outsiders ever get to board. I felt privileged.

I started by taking off my shoes the minute I boarded. Shoes drag dirt and the wrong shoes can do damage. I started on the rear deck area. There’s a couple of “fighting chairs” out there. Those are chairs for fighting a huge fish up to the boat. It’s unusual for a craft like this to have them.

From there we went down stairs to a lower rear entry. The door opens at about 6 inches above the water level. Next was the engine room. It houses twin Cat C32 engines. Each puts out about 1,000 HP. WOW!

We returned to the deck and took a complete tour of the interior. There is so much cool stuff to tell, I can but offer a few tidbits. On the front mast is a power crow’s nest. It lowers so one can climb in and be lifted up for surveying ahead.

As always, pictures do it no justice! But here's a couple.

The top picture and these two belong to another.

And here's me with my new found best friend!

What a beautiful vessel! And everybody was so friendly. They never made us feel like we were invading their home.

September 14, 2009 Hey, hey everybody;

It has been a fun week. We celebrated our wedding anniversary (for the entire week). We pretended that we were back in the days when neither of us had responsibilities. Back then we had some money set aside. We were very careful as to how we spent it and we did a lot of fun stuff on very little money.

Through the week we made our meals at home more than usual. When we did eat out we went for fast food. That is the way it was way back when. We made a couple of exceptions. We went to Paradise Cafe' once and we went on a sunset sail along the coast.

We spent a lot of the week walking and playing on the beaches here. We took naps nearly every day. We got up mornings, went to the athletic club and after that just hung out as though we had nothing to accomplish.

One day we drove up into the hills. We went to Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. This is the front gate.

From a little farther out you can see the huge, protective wall around the entrance.

And from a little different vantage point you can see that the wall only goes a little ways. Look to the right of the red arrow. That is the gate from the above pictures.

I expected the whole property to be surrounded by a huge wall, like we see in Las Vegas, surrounding star’s homes. But here it just turns to split rail fencing. However I could see security’s dirt road, immediately inside the split rail, where they patrol the property.

Right across the street was an old oak tree that seemed to be a magnet for Red Headed Wood Peckers. This is just one branch of the tree. Each little black speck is a hole pecked in the branch by one of the birds.

A little closer view of the sweet, charming critter.

You can see the holes in this branch as well, if you look closely.

From there we went to a little Danish village called Solvang. It’s pretty well known. We had lunch at The Red Viking. Great food! I know there are bunches of places in Solvang with excellent food. This happens to be the one we chose and it was exceptional.

On the edge of town lies the Santa Ines Mission. This old cross was forgotten near the back entrance to the property. It made me think, we often hear of the Shroud of Turin, but I wonder what ever became of the cross of Jesus? Think it was reused? Was it just discarded? I wonder?

Back in Santa Barbara I found a few other interesting sights. I have never seen a tree quite like this before. I don’t know what it is or where it is a native. This one now grows along the main tourist walk called State Street.

Then, it’s kind of hard to see in this picture, but I have an “Only in Santa Barbara” moment. This doggy water bowl has ice cubes in it. It is one of many watering bowls that local business owners are kind enough to set out for doggy passers by.

This sweet, little thing was pretty much ignoring the world around her. She just sat there on the sand. I am imagining she was resting from her latest huge fish meal. Yummy! Well, at least for her it was yummy. I’ll stick with the food I ate at the Red Viking thank you very much.

Then we have the cackling clutch of pigeons out on the wharf.

One day we went to Ventura. It’s about 20 minutes South of Santa Barbara. I always head for the harbor first thing. I saw this boat, The Gentry Eagle.

It is billed as the world’s fastest motor yacht. It's 114 feet long. Tom Gentry set a transatlantic record with the yacht, then transformed it into a luxury motor yacht. Online I see an ad that it is for sale. I don’t know how old the ad is or whether it is still for sale.

Imagine popping around the world in that little cutie.

Tom Gentry died @ age 67 in Honolulu, Jan. 15, 1998.

Here’s another scene from the Ventura Harbor.

There is also a fisherman’s memorial created by a local artist. As expected, it commemorates those who lost their lives providing us with seafood.

She actually took full body castings of some local fishermen to create a three dimensional memorial.

And this is sunset at the harbor. Think they all look the same? They don’t when you are standing there. That much I can say.

On the last day of our summer vacation we went on a sunset cruise. A nice college girl was kind enough to take our picture. Looking on from our right is Rick. He was in town on business. He repairs and tunes pipe organs.

What a peaceful and serene place to live aboard a boat at anchorage.

Come nightfall it is so dark and quiet out there. I still plan to have a boat and live at anchorage for a while. I have wanted to do that since I was in high school. I used to dream of finding a fixer-upper and live in it while I did the work.

Here’s a couple that could use a little fixing upper! The center boat says “Circa 1938” on the side. I don’t know, there’s just something romantic about old, forgotten dreams. Take note that the current residences, on all these boats, are nonhuman.

These are the college girls who took our picture. They spent the entire trip giggling and taking pictures of each other. They were too cute.

And he was taking a picture of himself and his girl.

As we rounded the end of the peninsula, we got there just in time to see the sun set, both over land and over the sea.

What a spectacular sunset it was, too! I’m tellin’ ya’, Captain Don knew exactly where to sail for everyone onboard to enjoy the trip immensely. He took us out by a bunch of dolphins and zig-zagged through the waters to every interesting sight there was.

And now we’re on our way back into the Santa Barbara harbor.

What a great time. It was like we were on permanent vacation. Am I whetting your whistle for a trip to Santa Barbara? That’s not the purpose of my site but if I am, it means I’m doing my job. I love it here and I love photographically capturing my ventures.

Until next time!

August 5, 2009: I'm back. Hi there. Lots has happened since I last updated. We got ourselves a cute little camper van to bop around in. Having fun as always.

Here she is, at her new home on the beach, where she belongs. It's got running water, commode, shower, kitchen sink, propane refrig, and lots of other stuff.

Elvis is back on the beach. I'm playing air guitar as his backup. Some more fun stuff to do. I can't believe how much fun stuff there is to do when you're out taking pictures all day long! I'll add more soon. For now, see ya!

May 26, 2009: We spent this weekend down by the harbor. This reclaimed anchor is at the entrance to the harbor.

There was a maritime celebration going on. A tall ship out of Los Angeles sailed in.

Isn’t she a beauty!?

I love tall ships! Here she is as she motors her way to the dock.

One thing that caught my attention as they were docking her, is the fact that ships from the 19th century sure seem to have a different type of bow and stern thruster than today’s ships do! Whadayathink!? Maybe?

Aboard the tall ship was sure a treat. Beautiful vessel.

This little guy didn’t seem overly impressed. I think maybe he was plumb tuckered out from the voyage.

The coast guard was giving tours of its local vessel, plus the maritime museum was included in the ticket price when you boarded the Brigantine, The Irving Johnson. That is the name of the tall ship.

After we were through on the Irving Johnson, we took the tour of the United States Coast Guard Cutter BLACKFIN.

I didn’t catch the name of the young man who led our tour. It is quiet interesting.

He told us about their launch and recovery system using a jet propelled, aluminum hulled craft that launches from the stern of the Blackfin. Then he took us inside and up to the oversize pilothouse.

Next we visited the engine room where there is a full time mechanic. He said it is full time work keeping things in order and clean.

This is just one of the two massive engines that propel the cutter. And from the outside she sure looks impressive! She towers over about everything in the harbor.

I found the whole experience interesting and educational. It’s settling to know the Coast Guard is patrolling our shores.

After that we went into the maritime museum.

On entering we ran into this ol’ suit. It’s an old diver’s suit from away back when. It’s super heavy and it’s massive in order to stand up under the deep sea pressure.

There’s a lot more diving information inside.

There is so much information and history in there. It starts way back with the Chumash Indians of the area. They got around in wood plank canoes know as tomolos. Even the way these tomolos were constructed is fascinating.

I got to see one in action.

There is never ending information on each one of these subjects. They are all interesting to see and learn about. It all kept our attention for the day and then some. I find I have to let go or I would be studying and learning non-stop.

All these things and enjoying the beaches, State Street and people watching sure filled my weekend.

Oh, yeah, then we got to see an honest to goodness bird fight. While these two gulls were scrapping the Crow kept swooping down and attacking the one on top. I guess he was trying to even out the fight, huh!? Always something going on.

And we got to see a couple just enjoying the day!

Well, fun day to ya. I’ll write again.

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