Santa Barbara, CA

Days 29 - 32:  Friday - Wednesday, February 15 - 19, Rancho Oso RV Resort, Santa Barbara, CA

We prepared to head south, our weather continuing to be windy and stormy!  J & D decided to buy the Ventana, so Jim went down with Dwayne to look over the rig and go for a test drive before we headed south.  Over the next couple of weeks J & D will be jumping through a lot of hoops to make the purchase work!  We made it up the hill to Rancho Oso, in spite of being led astray a couple of times by Google Maps.  Highway 154 is closed by Lake Cachuma, the way we would usually come up, but Google seems to think it is closed everywhere!

View of the Santa Inez canyon from our campsite.

Rancho Oso is a horse ranch in a big canyon, a feeling of “big sky” there. The weather continues rainy and windy!   Saturday, we went for a walk around the place, then went to a fun wine-tasting event and a great tri-tip dinner.  Sunday, we tried to hike up to the waterfall, made it through several parts of the very rough trail and a couple of stream crossings that had lots of water, but gave up before we got there!  Jan is doing OK with her sprained ankle, has to keep it elevated a lot, and it hurts!  Shooting stars in this place!  (the flowers)

Shooting Stars along Waterfall Trail

Camping Covered Wagons in a Circle around the Campfire

Pretty roomy inside!

One of the many horses on this ranch.

Monday, I went down to Santa Barbara with Jim while he had a hang-gliding lesson at Elings Park.  I dropped him off, then went to a Starbuck’s to catch up the blog on their signal!  Our 16 G is going away fast!  Then I bought groceries, then walked around for an hour and a half at this nice park till Jim was done.  Pretty muddy in spots still!  Jim enjoyed the lesson, although unfavorable winds did not give him as much air time as he would have liked.  I made a pot roast for dinner, and J & D joined us.

View toward Santa Barbara from my hike to the top of Elings Park.

Paragliders at the top of the hill

Jim at Hand Glider place below, Channel Islands to the west.

Hang Glider Landing Incident

Tuesday, Jim headed back down to Santa Barbara for another hang-gliding lesson.  I walked around the campground a bit, bought some souvenir earrings in the camp store.  J & D and I went to have lunch at the Cold Springs Tavern, an old stage stop, great food and cool old buildings.  I had quiche, which was so good I brought home a couple of pieces for Jim and me to have for dinner the next night.  There is lots of water in the Santa Inez River this year – previously when we were here, we were able to drive across the dry river bed and up the other side of the river.  Snow at home, still!  The entire west coast is cold and wet!  We are hooked on the Justified series now!