Category Archives: Travel

Santa Barbara

So on Saturday I decided to head North 40 miles to Santa Barbara to take care of some business at Nordstrom and then have a leisurely walk around town.

I headed up State Street to find the Nordstrom. Santa Barbara has some great Mission Architecture.

Even the Nordstrom here is designed to fit into the neighborhood. I love the architecture and feel of the downtown Santa Barbara area. Once I purchased what I needed at Nordstrom I wandered the downtown main drag popping into stores that looked interesting.

This Lewis & Clark store was one of my favorites with a great variety of stuff shown in the next collage.

Lots of china, silver, vintage aprons, vintage ware, and whimsy. Time to find some lunch…

I chose Barcliff & Bair. It was a nice spot right on State Street with outdoor tables. I chose the inside because it was overcast and sprinkly at this point in the day. I had Harney and Sons Earl Grey Supreme, a grilled chicken and brie sandwich with peppers and onions, and a cup of 3 bean soup. Very nice. I then went to do a little more shopping.

I found a consignment shop on State that I’d come back to in the future. I thought this china cup and saucer would be a good mate to my Royal Albert one I found at the Rose Bowl Flea Market. This one is Cambridge, Pink Mist, made in England. I think those are Dogwood blooms which I love. This beauty was $10.00. That is not my usual thrift store bargain price but I was happy to spend it anyway for this sweet cup and saucer.

I also made a side trip to the Santa Barbara Art Museum and the Santa Barbara Mission but I’ll leave that for another post…

I got home and found out that Dear had made it to our home in the Seattle area safe and sound. He flies home tomorrow morning and I’ll pick him up at the airport. He and our daughter were on their way to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Kirkland because there was no food in the house :0)

ABC Wednesday ~ O is for…

O is for Oban, Scotland ~

Oban is the gateway to the Isles.

Oban is on the west coast of Scotland.

Oban is the frontier between the West Highlands and the Islands; the meeting place between land and sea. A perfect, sheltered harbour makes it the principal seaport for the Isles and the capital of the West Highlands. It has a mild, temperate climate, warmed by the Gulf Stream and washed (too often, some might say) by the soft rain that often falls hereabouts. This misty, briny character, with a background of heather and peat, is perfectly echoed in the malt whisky produced at Oban.

We travelled to Oban in May of 2006 and enjoyed a couple nights here. Our favorite part of this stay was our day trip to the Isle of Iona via the Isle of Mull. Our tour of the Oban Distillery was an extra treat for Dear…

For more O posts visit Mrs. Nesbitt

ht: Dave for Oban photos…

ABC Wednesday ~ L is for …

L is for London

Dear and I love to travel to Great Britain and spend some time in London while we travel about the Isle. This is me in February of 2003 after we took a ride on the London Eye. You can see the “Eye” in the background.

This is a shot of one of the pods across from ours.

You really get a wonderful view of all of London.

For more ABC Wednesday Posts on the letter L head on over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

Photo Hunters ~ High

 

Mt. Rainier in the state of Washington is 14, 411 ft. high.

  • The base of the volcano occupies more than 100 square miles. 
  • It is the 5th highest mountain in the lower 48 states (only 83 feet lower than California’s Whitney!). 
  • It’s massive ice flows and violent winds are so similar to the biggest mountains that it is considered a training ground for McKinley and Everest itself. 
  • Avalanches from the mountain have been known to travel 60 miles
  • For more photo hunters click here.

Back to the Burke-Gilman Trail

Today was my first real walk since I broke my toe and have been in Washington. I get to do this same walk again on Saturday, a reunion with my two Washington walking buddies. Jody and I did the walk today and it was nice to be on this trail again. The Spring scenery here in Washington is very different from my California walks. There are signs of Spring but it’s still quite cool and dreary with welcomed sun breaks here and there.

 

The Burke-Gilman trail in the Seattle area of Washington runs from Shilshole Bay 18 miles partly along Lake Washington and then intersects with the Sammamish River Trail that runs all the way to Marymoor park in the city of Redmond along the river. We start at Log-Boom Park in Kenmore on Lake Washington and head east on the trail.

There were some pretty signs of Spring along the Sammamish river part of the trail in Bothell.

These huge birds looked like buzzards but we couldn’t get focused in close enough to really identify them. They were very large like a buzzard.

I took a shot of the willow tree for you Willow! The last photo is looking north along a creek that crosses underneath the trail. This was the first day this week that I put my pedometer on for the walk and it was over 15,000 steps and after my stops on the way home I’m up to 17,430 steps!! On the way home from the walk I had to stop at a thrift store because I’ve done some cleaning out since I’ve been here and wanted to donate some stuff, but I couldn’t leave without doing a little shopping…hmm, counterproductive?!

I found this sweet little mug for 50 cents with a bird and I think dogwood blossoms and the reversible table runner with blue flowers and green leaves on one side and blue and white stripes on the reverse for $3.20. I added it to my Easter table and am ready for our brunch on Sunday. We will enjoy brunch after the 8:30 service on Easter. I so love anticipating celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ each year…

Have a wonderful day!

Teacup-a-Story ~ Week One

March 16 – March 22
Teacup-a-Story ~Share a picture of your favorite teacup and saucer; describe it and tell it’s history (or make up a story about it’s past). Why is it meaningful to you? This would be a good place to share about the details of your teacup collection if you have one.

~

These cups are each special to me for different reasons. The first one was made in Russia. My heritage is Russian and I was happy to find this cup and saucer at Goodwill on one of my shopping trips there. I really enjoy blues in dishes so that’s another reason I like it.
~
The second photo is a tea-cup from the tea set that I bought as a souvenir when I was in England in 1973. I really enjoyed the shape of the Royal Albert china. After we were married we traveled to Canada and were able to add to my original tea set with a dinner service for 12. Besides blue and white I find pink and green very pleasing to my eyes.
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This next tea cup and saucer are from my MIL’s stash. Her brother gave her a set of dishes in this pattern as a wedding gift. I love the flowers and the history that goes with this sweet cup.
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The last cup is from a set of dishes that I saw in a model home that we walked through before we bought our home in Ventura, California in 1984. When we moved in to our home the housing development had a model home furniture and accessories sale and I bought the service for 4 for $25.00. I was a happy camper. The pattern is English Chippendale/Johnson Bros./ England.

I never collected tea-cups but I inherited and bought them here and there when one caught my eye. You can visit LaTeaDah and see more Tea-cups with a story.

 

I is for Iona ~

It’s time for ABC Wednesday and this week we are on the letter I.

Come with me to the Isle of Iona in the Hebrides.

We traveled from the town of Oban on the western coast of Scotland by ferry to the Island of Mull and then we boarded a bus to travel down the Island to take a small ferry to the small Isle of Iona.

This little Isle is rich in history and beauty.

History of Iona

St. Columba, an Irish scholar, soldier, priest, and founder of monasteries, got into a small war over the possession of an illegally copied Psalm book. Victorious but sickened by the bloodshed, Columba left Ireland, vowing never to return. According to legend, the first bit of land out of sight of his homeland was Iona. He stopped here in 563 and established the abbey.

Columba’s monastic community flourished, and Iona became the center of Celtic Christianity. Iona missionaries spread the gospel through Scotland and North England, while scholarly monks established Iona as a center of art and learning. The Book of Kells – perhaps the finest piece of art from “Dark Ages” Europe – was probably made on Iona in the eighth century. The island was so important that it was the legendary burial place for ancient Scottish and even Scandinavian kings (including Shakespeare’s Macbeth).

Slowly the importance of Iona ebbed. Vikings massacred 68 monks in 806. Fearing more raids, the monks evacuated most of Iona’s treasures (including the Book of Kells, which is now in Dublin) to Ireland. Much later, with the Reformation, the abbey was abandoned, and most of its finely carved crosses were destroyed. In the 17th century, locals used the abbey only as a handy quarry for other building projects.

Iona’s population peaked at about 500 in the 1830’s. In the 1840’s a potato famine hit. In the 1850’s a third of the islanders emigrated to Canada and Australia. By 1900 the population was down to 210, and today it’s only around 100.

But in our generation a new religious community has given the abbey new life. The Iona community is an ecumenical gathering of men and women who seek new ways of living the Gospel in today’s world, with focus on worship, peace, and justice issues, and reconciliation.

The island is car free. While the present  abbey, nunnery, and graveyard go back to the 13th century, much of what you see today was rebuilt in the 19th century.

ht: history and other information taken from Rick Steves’ Great Britain

For more ABC Wednesday go see Mrs. Nesbitt.

 

ABC Wednesday ~ H is for…

 H is for Hiking

We went on a Hike early Saturday morning. We drove west to Pacific Coast Highway and South to Pt. Mugu State Park. We started at the Sycamore Canyon Campground and made sure to read the warning signs. We spotted Poison Oak at the very beginning of the hike. The only animals we saw were rabbits, lizards and birds.

We decided to take the scenic trail for our hike and we were rewarded with some beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean and of the mountains of the Santa Monica coastal range.

We also were happy to spot many wildflowers.

We are hoping to do this great hike again soon.

For more ABC Wednesday click on over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

Sycamore Canyon Hike ~ Walking Club Totals

So Dear and I decided we’d stray from our usual beach walk at Emma Wood and we headed to the Santa Monica Mountains. We decided on Big Sycamore Canyon starting at Point Mugu State Park. Here are some of our breathtaking views!

We picked the Scenic Trail to the Overlook Fire Road. Besides the gorgeous views of the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica Mountains we were very excited to spot one of these…

This is a Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria biflora Lindl.) Lily Family. LILIACEAE

Chocolate Lily is local on clay slopes, often under shrubs and blooms from February to April. This has been called the Cleopatra of the Fritillaries – darkest and the loveliest. It is our only species, although there are 16 California natives in this genus. We were first introduced to a Fritillaria in Oxford, England on Addison’s Walk. We were there in April and there was a field of blooming Fritillaries.

We did enjoy our hike and we will return again. I’ll show more photos of our hike later in the week and add another wildflower post for Wildflowers in Winter.

But now to my step totals for 6 days this week for Lovella’s Walking Club. My average was good again at 11,283.

We’re headed off to Orange County now for  my older sister’s Leap Year Birthday Celebration with the family. Have a great weekend and keep on walking…