Anniversary

Here I am again in Palermo Coffee, using their internet connection because it will be up to a week before we get our internet hooked up.

Our trip to Santa Barbara on Friday really was lovely. Back in the 70s John had this uncanny ability to find a Sambo's Restaurant anywhere he drove. He likes to eat breakfasts and Sambo's did have good ones, especially pancakes. So, when we got off the freeway in Santa Barbara and there was the first and only original Sambo's right there, with an open parking spot right in front, we knew we had to eat there.

John says the pancakes still taste the same.

The beaches in Santa Barbara are different from the beaches in the South Bay. The Ventura County and Santa Barbara County beaches are more protected because of the islands off the coast.

They are also rockier. The sand is more coarse and there is more tar from the off shore oil.

For some reason there is more seaweed around, too. I think that is because the Beach Cities grade and plow their beaches regularly, and these beaches farther north are left more "natural".

The rocks make good places for tide pools. And tide pools make good places for anenomes to grow.

Both the cultivated beaches and the natural beaches have their strengths.

We walked for four miles on the sand, splashing in the surf up to our ankles, looking for shells, stepping over rocks, shells, dead lobsters and bits of seaweed.