Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara was the closest to traditional vacation time on our California roadtrip. We stayed at a hotel with a large pool and a lobby that looked like a cool bar or something. It was close to Downtown so we spend the morning at a French bakery drinking coffee & eating croissants, watching the people around us and enjoying the sun. Later we rented some cruisers at Wheel Fun Rentals and rode down the boardwalk. I felt so relaxed and free that I started humming the drums let's go surfing song. We passed by families in rented surreys, young couples on skates and kids playing volleyball at the beach. It was the picture perfect. On our way back we made a lunch stop at the Shellfish Company Santa Barbara for a crab sandwich and an Alaskan King Crab which were served with clam soup, fried onion rings and cole slaw.

We decided to eat outside and thus enjoyed the company of aggressive looking Californian gulls. Nevertheless we enjoyed our lunch and worked the crab with hot sauce and lime. The sea food at that place is sublime and at times intimidating if you watch what creatures are swimming in that aquarium of theirs. They serve fresh local crabs and are well visited in fact you kind of feel bad about the other places as no one stands a chance compared to Shellfish Co. Enough free advertising done here, I think. So later at night we went shopping and strolled around an artsy outdoor exhibition. We dined at an Italian restaurant and went to bed peaceful, sun-bathed and with great food in our tummies - what a day!