Lake Cachuma, Santa Barbara County , CA - Nov. 18 - Dec. 12, 2005
After spending the night in the Paso Robles Walmart parking lot (a lovely spot to celebrate Susan's birthday), we arrived at Cachuma Lake. Cachuma Lake does not accept reservations and it was the weekend before Thanksgiving so we were happy to be assigned a group camping spot, which we would have to vacate by Monday. We were advised to check back with the park representatives for recently vacated sites. This resulted in us occupying three sites in one day, the last having full hook-ups. Just to stay in practice, we moved again after Thanksgiving to a location with more sun and a view of the lake.
Note: Paso Robles has passed an ordinance disallowing overnight parking at Walmart. However, the local police did not ask us or the six other rigs to vacate.
We are very thankful to Chet and Eileen, whom we met at Zion National Park the previous spring, for telling us about Cachuma Lake County Park. The park is a Druid's dream with oak covered rolling hills surrounding a beautiful blue lake. We were entertained by bald and golden eagles, osprey, American pelicans (the snowy white variety), squirrels, deer and very tenacious red-crested acorn woodpeckers that tried to shove acorns into any opening they could find - including wheel covers and antennas.
The park is perfectly situated for exploring the Santa Ynez Valley wine and horse country, the Danish village of Solvang and the very upscale towns of Santa Barbara and Montecito. As usual, Susan had an extensive list of things to do and places to go, and as usual, not all items were checked off the list.
After adding all the accessories to our bikes, we rode up Happy Canyon Road - up being the operative word. Several days after we recovered from that experience, we took another ride on Santa Rosa Road that runs along the Santa Ynez River - which made Happy Canyon seem flat! Both rides kicked these flatlander's butts. Our new bikes have fatter tires making them more stable in gravel and dirt, but also requiring more effort to move. That is our story and we are sticking with it.
We spent several days exploring Santa Barbara including the harbor and historic downtown areas. We highly recommend visiting the old Courthouse and taking the docent tour. The Moorish and Spanish architectural details are amazing. We were especially impressed with the spiral staircase, coffered ceilings, and mosaic floors. The highlights are the mural room depicting the European discovery and settling of Santa Barbara, and the clock tower with its spectacular views.
We visited the Santa Barbara Art Museum, advertised "among the finest small museums in the US". The museum's special exhibit, First Seen: Portraits of the World's People 1840-1880, depicted early photographs from exotic places throughout the world. Sadly, several of the cultures shown in the images no longer exist. The museums permanent collection is also very impressive, and includes works by Matisse, Braque, Bonnard, Dufy, Derain, Chagall, Picasso, O'Keefe and others.
While in the area we toured three early Spanish missions, including the La Purisima Concepción Mission (est. 1787) in Lompoc, the Santa Inés Mission (est. 1804) in Solvang and the Mission Santa Barbara (est. 1786), the Queen of the Missions. The CCC painstakingly restored the La Purisima Mission grounds, buildings and gardens to accurately reflect life at the mission during Spanish rule. It is now a California State Historic Park and serves to remind us of how long Europeans have been on the west coast and how they influenced its native peoples and culture.
Mission Santa Barbara is beautiful and the baptistery and alter are stunning. President Lincoln returned the mission to the Catholic Church in 1865, and is currently operated by the Franciscans Order.
One of the most important events during our stay in Santa Barbara County was our visit with Karen and Bob in Thousand Oaks. During the late 1970's Karen and Susan shared a house in Sacramento and have stayed in touch over the years. We had a wonderful time catching up on one another lives, the challenges of successfully raising and educating four kids (theirs, not ours) and our adventure.
Also, Claire visited us during our stay at Cachuma. She took the San Joaquin intercity train and feeder bus down from Sacramento, and returned on the Coast Starlight. After we picked her up at the train station we went over to Stearns Wharf for drinks at Longboards and watched the sunset. We then went to Brophy's at the harbor for excellent clam chowder. We really enjoyed Claire's visit to our cozy hovel and hope she will join us again in the future.
As it turned out, the above-mentioned Chet and Eileen were at Cachuma during the last week of our stay. To celebrate Claire's birthday, we all went to Los Olivos for a little wine tasting and picnicking, then to the Farmer's Market in Solvang. Just before we left for San Diego (and Chet and Eileen left for Tahiti), we had dinner together in Santa Barbara. Hopefully, our paths will cross again soon.
On December 13, we hooked up and headed for San Diego, bracing ourselves for navigating our land-yacht through the freeway maze of Los Angeles.
