Yesterday we spent most of the day with our friend Allison who lives in Santa Barbara. We drove up to Carpinteria (half way between) for lunch. On the way, we stopped at the Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve for a walk. We had beautiful views of the ocean to the south and mountains to the north.
We had lunch with Allison at Sly's in downtown Carpinteria. Sandra had grilled sand dab (a type of flat fish) and Allison and I had Cobb salads, We also shared a fabulous piece of chocolate cake. After that, the plan was to go to the Carpinteria beach and walk. But when we got there, the wind was blowing so hard that the sand stung our skin and got in our teeth. We decided to bag the walk.
We drove into Santa Barbara and went to the old Mission Santa Barbara to see the nativity, a family tradition for Allision. It's a typical nativity, but with live animals. There were two miniature donkeys and some black lambs. Then we walked a bit in the rose garden. The roses smelled wonderful. Here's Allison and me in the rose garden.
Then we went to Allison's sister Ivanie's house for mahj and dinner. Ivanie's house is up on one of the hills around Santa Barbara and has a great view of the water and mountains. We played mahj Jongg until dinner at 7:30. It was a fun time.
Christmas morning we went to Surfer's Point--a city park on the water. The beach here wasn't very sandy--mostly big boulders. We only found three pieces of glass that weren't just broken glass. Here's a giant piece we found.
I also got my a good warning sign (only slightly defaced) for my collection.
True to the name Surfer's Point, we saw lots of folks out surfing.
Here's some more photos of us in the park.
After lunch at the Vagarbond Inn (packed as it was one of few places open) and naps at the hotel, we went back to Ivanie's house in Santa Barbara for Christmas dinner with Allison, Ivanie, Wendy, and Michelle. We had Allison's and Ivanie's traditional Norwegian Christmas dinner with spare ribs, baked potatoes, jello salad, rolls, and rice pudding for dessert. Everyone shared their family Christmas traditions. It was a great Christmas evening.
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