Carpinteria - the Town that Built Canoes

 We took a little trip up the coast to a town called Carpinteria. The name comes from the Spanish word for carpenter. The Chumash Indians, who are native to the area, used materials from the town to make their tomols, which were canoes. The area has naturally occurred tar pits, and the Chumash used this asphalt substance to seal their canoes. 

It's 116 miles from Huntington Beach, but due to traffic through Los Angeles, it took us about 3 hours. The weather was very rainy during the morning as we drove, but it had cleared up by the time we got there. We stopped at Tommy's Original Burgers in Ventura for lunch.

Here is my outfit for the first day. The long sweater is from Nordstrom. I remember buying it, then regretting how much it cost. But that was over twenty years ago, and it still looks great. Sometimes you get what you pay for. The belt is White House Black Market, and the boots are Dior.

Here I am, posing along Linden Avenue, the main drag of the little town. You can see that it was sunny. I love all the rays of sunlight streaming down on me.

Linden Avenue is populated with small shops and restaurants. Most of them cater to the tourists, offering beach themed merchandise. More on the beaches later. There are a lot of Mexican restaurants, bodegas, and bakeries, which are frequented by the laborers who work in the area. It still has a large agricultural presence.

Carpinteria also boasts many vacation and short-term rentals. I loved this adorable Cape Cod style bungalow.

Laughing Buddha is a great thrift shop right by the beach. The last time we were here, I purchased a Paloma Picasso belt for $3, and I still wear it. This time, I got a pair of Report black leather boots for $10.

They have items both inside and outside. I highly recommend this shop if you are in the area.

Doc made sure that we stopped at the Friends of the Carpinteria Library Used Book Store. This little shop made the list of the ten best used bookstores in the state. We got a few books and some postcards that I will frame and hang in my She Shed.

We stayed at the Casa Del Sol Motel. It was quiet and clean, and they provided bicycles for guests to ride to Linden Street and the beach.

The door had a peep hole. You can see the Volkswagen Tigaun that we rented for the trip. It was a nice comfortable SUV with great visibility, but it had zero pickup. 

On Wednesday, we went down to the Salt Marsh Reserve. It was dedicated in 1977. There were clearly marked paths that seemed to be popular with hikers and dog walkers.

Doc in the wild !!

The trails led to a bluff which sat on cliffs over the beach. I didn't get too close to the edge, because the area has many landslides during the rainy season, and I did not want to slide down to my death. The Amtrak Surfliner runs right along the bluff.

We saw one of my spirit animals, the giant egret, walking on his long yellow legs through the chaparral.

We also saw a huge heron. He seemed to be almost tame, coming ever closer to us. I suspect that he knows that people mean food.

Later that morning, we went to a nearby town called Summerland. It's mostly high-end homes, but they do have an Antiques Coop, where I saw this cute dog portrait. I am going to try and draw one of these with Vinni as the subject.

Then we went up to Santa Barbara, only 8 miles north of Carpinteria. The freeway through this beautiful town has always seemed in disrepair, but it has finally been refurbished.  Our destination was Stearn's Wharf.

It was built by John P Stearns in 1872 as a commercial wharf for the fishermen who worked in the region. The wharf was damaged by storms in 1878 but was rebuilt and put back into regular use. In 1980, the city of Santa Barbara constructed an entirely new substructure. Fishing became of the pleasure variety only, and new businesses populated it.

There are a couple of good seafood restaurants on the wharf. This time we chose Moby Dick's. You can see it in the background.

Then I posed for some pictures with beautiful Santa Barbara in the background. It's such a lovely city, although very expensive as far as real estate goes. Many celebrities, including Oprah and Ellen Degeneres, live there and in nearby Montecito, an exclusive suburb.

This is our lunch - I had my first ever Aperol Spritz, and I liked it. This cocktail was very popular during the summer, and I can see why. It has Aperol, a liqueur, prosecco, and soda water. We also had the special couples' seafood assortment. It was served in a giant plastic martini glass. It had fish, shrimp, clams, calamari, French fries and onion rings. It was delicious!

Then we walked won to the beach. In 1912, the city adopted the slogan, "The World's Safest Beach". It is still a popular destination for bathers and surfers. The beach was covered in driftwood. I don't know if it's always this way or if the storms of the previous day blew all this wood down there. There were also many lemons on the beach. A local told me that they came from nearby groves.

I made this display from driftwood and shells that I collected on the beach.

It was a pleasant getaway, just the perfect length of time to be gone from home.

So now we go back to the usual outfits and shenanigans. On February 14th, I had some errands to run, so that explains my hair just tied back in a ponytail. I try to give it a rest from all the heat styling and the product buildup. The magical color of the day was amber. I wore jeans and this top with an equestrian print.

On February 15th, we had an appointment to do our taxes. We will be getting 11k back between state and federal refunds. I also had to drop off some papers to my fiduciary - because of my retirement, I need to roll over my employer-sponsored accounts into Roth IRAs. I wore slinky knit pants by Max Studio, and an ivory blouse from White House Black Market. The color of the day was white, so the ivory counts as far as I'm concerned. I wore my navy-blue St John jacket on top.

On February 16th, I had a lunch date with three ladies that I worked with. We went to Urban Plates, where I had the lamb Osso Bucco. It was delicious, and I brought the big bone home for Jacki. I wore a skirt from Albert Nipon with a grey lightweight wool sweater from Philosophy. The purple moleskin jacket is from Worthington, and the color of the day was purple.

My new Medicare benefit plan from Scan includes $90 of over-the-counter items per quarter. This is what I got for this quarter.

Jacki grew out of her collar, so we got her a new one. I put her tags on it.

On February 23rd, the magic color was coral. I wore Sanctuary leggings in a deep mauve color, with a coral lacy sweater from Loft on top. My new elastic shoes are from Temu.

I replanted the window box on the front of my She Shed. I used ornamental kale, petunias, and pansies.

This may be our Jacki's official portrait - she looks so regal and beautiful here.

I didn't take outfit pictures that day since I spent it in grubbies digging in my plants. On February 25th, the magic color was yellow. I wore black knit cargo pants with a yellow tank top and a printed sweater from Joseph A. The black shoes are another pair from Temu. Both pair are dotted with crystals. 

Today is February 26th, and the magic color is white once again. I am wearing white corduroy jeans from Old Navy, a navy sweater from Apt 9, and a vintage 70s style poncho from F21.

So that's about all for now - stay tuned for some more adventures during March. I don't think we have any plans, but since I am retired, I can now do anything I want!!