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Sharon had another birthday and we decided to celebrate it in Santa Barbara for a couple of days. But instead of driving we took the train. It is a full day's journey from the Bay Area, but the scenery is great and it is very relaxing with a good book and a glass of wine along the way. |
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We arrived in Santa Barbara just after sunset and walked two blocks to our hotel, just off State Street, the main boulevard in town. After checking in, we walked to the Palace Grill for dinner. The place specializes in Cajun food and I enjoyed their 'world famous Cajun martini' with hot peppers instead of the regular olive or lemon swist. For starters we ordered some crawfish popcorn. Sharon then ordered the crawfish crabcakes and I had the jambalaya picquante. The Santa Barbara experience started off real spicey. |
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Above are a couple views from our second floor balcony. The following morning we walked to the Beachbreak Cafe for breakfast and continued on to the beach and pier. The whole area was very stark in December. Although rain had been predicted, the ocean was very calm. After a visit to the aquarium on the pier, we walked back along State Street for some shopping and browsing. Luckily Sharon had already done most of her Christmas shopping and I did not have to lug along large bags of goodies. Here are just some pictures of our day along the ocean and in town. |
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Sharon's birthday dinner was at a local hangout, the Chase Bar and Grill. It was crowded but full of Chrismas decorations. The service was slow but the halibut nicely prepared. We had fun even as we walked through the rain back to the hotel later in the evening. The following morning we left for the train station for our return trip to Oakland. UCSB had just started their Christmas break and as we pulled into San Luis Obispo more kids from Cal Poly came aboard. So we had a train full of college kids. Eventhough there were interesting people to talk to and we had some good books to read, it was a long nine hour ride, and it was good to be back home again. |
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