The Breakfast Experiment — Esau’s

I started with Urbanspoon and entered “Downtown,” “Breakfast,” “$$$.” No hits! There are breakfast places downtown, but none in the “$$$” range. I unlocked that criteria and hit “Shake.”

Strange town. Limited knowledge. My experiment today is finding a place for breakfast using digital means. The iPhone (and I assume most of the newer smart phones) is great at this.

I started with Urbanspoon and entered “Downtown,” “Breakfast,” “$$$.” No hits! There are breakfast places downtown, but none in the “$$$” range. I unlocked that criteria and hit “Shake.” Esau’s looked interesting with decent reviews especially for breakfast. It was “$$.” That’s better than “$$$.”

I then opened Yelp and double checked. The reviews were very good, again especially breakfast.

What I liked was I was only a click away from a map and a click away when I called to make sure they’re open on Memorial Day. They are.

I’ll let you know how this turns out later.

It’s Sunday In Santa Barbara

It’s easy to see why Santa Barbara is an insanely expensive place to live — who wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time there?

We’d never been to Santa Barbara before so we’d only planned a short trip. We drove up Saturday evening and leave Monday morning.

It’s been a great place to visit.

Helaine read about the Arts and Crafts Show on the waterfront. We went there first. Nothing to buy, but lots to see. There were lots of sellers representing many styles in a variety of media.

A few photographers were exhibiting. Here’s my read: each has two or three ‘evergreens’ which drive their sales. The other shots are to avoid the embarrassment of only showing a handful of pics. Many of the photos are oversatured, meaning the colors are way too intense. Does that make the shot more impressive? Who am I to judge… though I will.

We left the artists and spent some time walking on Stearns Wharf which is the focal point of the waterfront. If you park on the wharf, and we did, you drive its length on a wooden plank roadway. The speed limit is 10 mph, but I thought that was a little fast for conditions!

We also hit State Street which is the main drag downtown. State Street is very reminiscent of Worth Avenue on Palm Beach (another place where I can afford to buy nothing). It was packed with a sedate and very well behaved crowd.

My friend L.A. friend Larry who goes here all the time just sent an email with his read on Santa Barbara:

It’s easy to see why Santa Barbara is an insanely expensive place to live — who wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time there?

Instead of writing too much I’ll let my pictures do the talking. Click any photo to get a larger view.

The Puppies Of Santa Barbara

We love dogs. That makes us Santa Barbara friendly because there are dogs of every shape and size everywhere you go!

We love dogs. That makes us Santa Barbara friendly because there are dogs of every shape and size everywhere you go! Many restaurants have outdoor seating meaning there’s a dog laying quietly under a table in just about every one.

Luckily for me I love taking dog photos. Here’s a small sample of what I saw.

We’re In Santa Barbara

This isn’t Connecticut. The door was wide open letting in the nighttime air. There are no flying bugs to worry about.

Greetings from Santa Barbara, CA. How pretty!

It’s been a v-e-r-y long day. We left home in Connecticut around 8:00 AM EDT. It’s after 9:30 PM PDT and we’re just winding down.

Once we picked up our bags we headed to Dollar for a rental car. Dodge Charger or equivalent is what our reservation called for. The car is actually a Mercury Grand Marquis. It’s a comparable size so I can’t complain though this is an old person’s car. It is also among the sloppiest handling mushy riding cars I’ve ever driven. At least it has a trunk that’s big enough for vacationers!

We left LAX and headed up the 405 to Highway 101. As long as we were passing Stef’s apartment we figured we might as well stop. It was brief. We’ll see her and Roxie on Monday.

We turned back to the 101 northbound through Agoura Hills and Thousand Oaks. The highway crests a ridge heading into Camarillo and as you head down the Pacific comes into view. Wow. It is spectacular.

Today’s trip corresponded with the Phillies/Marlins game. I set up the iPhone so Helaine could watch (while I listened). How’s that for technology, a live ballgame in the car!

As we drove toward Santa Barbara we took in Roy Halladay’s perfect game.

We passed the Montecito exits (Oprah/Gayle can we visit?) and entered Santa Barbara. The Encina Lodge, our hotel, wasn’t hard to find though it’s nestled in a residential neighborhood off the beaten path.

You quickly get a vibe if things will be good or bad. As we waited to check in we listened to the desk staff cheerfully help solve a few problems. We knew the choice would be good.

As it was our room had a problem–missing bath towels. I went to the office and a few minutes left Dennis delivered two sets. As I reached for my wallet he waved me off. “Can’t I give you something,” I asked?

I guess Dennis didn’t feel it was right to accept cash under these circumstances. Classy move.

We drove down to the water for dinner ending up at Emilio’s. I had Caesar salad and a seafood pasta dish while Helaine had pasta with bolognese sauce. Both were very tasty in a comfy setting.

This isn’t Connecticut. The door was wide open letting in the nighttime air. There are no flying bugs to worry about.

More exploring in the morning. I’m having trouble keeping my eyes open.

You Must Be On Vacation

Two small children just walked into the gate area with their parents. The kids are wearing t-shirts with what I assume are individual pictures of their parents 30 years ago. It shouldn’t be creepy, but it is.

“You must be on vacation. No computer!” The words came from Helaine. They were dripping with sarcasm.

We are at Bradley’s Gate 2 and I am plugged in… more accurately plugged in twice. The iPhone, which still had 90% battery remaining is getting topped off for the trip cross country. It has replaced the laptop as my flying companion. At the moment it holds five or six hours of video along with a few hundred songs. More importantly, in the airplane mode it has enough power for BDL-DEN then DEN-LAX.

Two small children just walked into the gate area with their parents. The kids are wearing t-shirts with what I assume are individual pictures of their parents 30 years ago. It shouldn’t be creepy, but it is.

We’re 1,670 miles from Denver. It should be farther, shouldn’t it? It should be almost all the way to the West Coast. We’ll still be 860 miles from the Pacific.

Helaine and I were talking about trips-gone-by on our way up here. I remembered sitting on a delayed TWA L-1011 at Philadelphia. The doors were open. People freely walked back-and-forth between the plane and terminal. Those days will never return.

When I blog about flying I often get comments from people who don’t, won’t or have never flown. Don’t worry about missing the glamor. It’s been a long time since flights were glamorous–since people get dressed-up to fly. What you’re missing is this whole beautiful country.

America is much more diverse than what you’d expect if you’ve only traveled as far as you can drive.

Tonight we’ll be in Santa Barbara. It’s on the ocean but it couldn’t be more different than any East Coast ocean town. The Pacific Coast itself is different than the Atlantic. Anyone who’s been to both can differentiate them in a lineup.

This will be a long day of traveling. The scheduled terminal-to-terminal-to-terminal time is eight hours.

If time permits I’ll check in from Denver.