Sunday, November 17, 2013, Return to Santa Barbara, CA

We headed back to Santa Barbara, CA, since we were not able to see everything on our list the first time. The morning sun greeted us as we drove down Hwy 101.

First stop - the wharf at the end of State Street. The leaping dolphins' fountain was at the entry to the wharf and made a very nice first impression.

The Ty Warner Sea Center was on our ASTC list and we were the first ones in line as it opened. It was a small aquarium/museum but the staff was very enthusiastic and informative. We were able to touch a lot of different animals. The decorator crab liked to drape colorful yarn all over itself.

The decorator crab disguises itself by hooking on bits of algae (or yarn, if available).

Four-inch sea hare looks very different from a football-sized sea hare.

California Two-spot Octopus; said to be as smart as a house cat!

This guy likes to play with (take apart) Duplos.

Monkey Face Prickleback Eels are actually not eels at all. They can live as deep as 80 ft. and can breathe air for up to 30 hours!

A nudibranch, or sea slug

A few blocks up Garden Street was a large park with a lot of activity. I was fascinated by these guys and their flying machine. It had 6 rotors, a 3 axis gimballed camera and landing gear. One guy flew the craft while the other guy operated the camera. We watched it fly around and hover for more than 5 minutes before it landed. They had several battery packs, but they must have depleted them before we got there, so they packed up to leave.

We visited the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History next. It was also a bit small but covered a lot of subjects. There were separate exhibit halls for Minerals and Gems, Marine Life, Geology and Paleontology, Plants and Insects, Mammals and Birds. Nearly all of the planetarium shows were oriented to the younger crowd, so we passed.

Supposed to feel like you are inside a beehive. (It was loud.)

The Monastery was visible from the Museum grounds.

Next to the museum was the Santa Barbara Mission - you know we had to stop for a few pictures! There were a lot of people on the grounds, but with a little patience, it was possible to capture pictures without too much distraction.

After a quick lunch, we stopped by the courthouse one more time. Joani climbed the stairs to the tower while I waited with Sam outside. There were some high clouds on the mountains, but they didn't really present a view different from our previous visit, so we included only a few pictures.

I realized I missed viewing the front of the courthouse from the street.

I had to peek into the mural room one more time to capture the artist signature.

Daniel Sayre Groesbeck(1879-1950).

On the way home, we stopped in Solvang for a bit. A lot of places closed at 5:00 so we only had about 45 minutes. Time enough to sample some excellent cheeses in one shop and some sinful fudge in another. This was a very interesting place worth a return visit someday. It reminded us of a high-class Gatlinburg, TN, with a Scandinavian flavor.