Santa Barbara 26 Feb - Friday

There was a lot of fog around this morning, although the outlook was good: 74°F (23°C). Foggy morning's at this time of year, are the norm in Santa Barbara, they have normally burned off before lunch time.

We drove down to the wharf for breakfast at Moby Rick Restaurant. 

This Sperm Whale was on the side of the Moby Rick Restaurant. This is a better photo of a whale, than the one's I took on our whale watching trip in Monterey.

After breakfast we walked around the pier.

Pat and Liz in the morning fog. It was reasonably warm, even though it was a little foggy.
Behind Pat's left ear, you can just make out a couple of figures. These are a few people painting. I'm not sure how you paint fog, but they were giving a go.

A couple of pelicans, waiting for any scraps from the fishermen on the pier.

After spending some time on the pier we drove back to down town Santa Barbara. In fact, as we could not go back the same way, because a couple of roads were closed in our direction. So it did not take us very long to get totally lost. Dorothy asked a passing cyclist, (who nearly fell of his bike), directions to down town Santa Barbara. We were that far away from the down town Santa Barbara, that we had to get back on the freeway to get to the centre.

Having found the centre, we had a look around a few shops and had a common coffee.

Some great views of the surrounding area.

Getting closer to the hills.

We drove up to the nearby Mission Santa Barbara, also known as Santa Barbara Mission, it is a Spanish mission, founded by the Franciscan order in 1786.

The impressive frontage of the mission.

While at the mission, I thought of taking holy orders, but an excess of food and wine would have made me looking like frier Tuck.

Around the corner from the Mission was Santa Barbara natural history museum, with the skeleton of a full size Blue Whale outside.

As one of only five complete Blue Whale skeletons in the United States, the Museum’s iconic 73-foot long phenomenal specimen is more than just a noted Santa Barbara landmark, it also represents a rare opportunity for people to gain first-hand exposure to, as well as an appreciation of, the world’s largest animal.

We then returned to our hotel for the night.