We’re Going to Explore Santa Barbara Then Head Out to the Countryside

Good morning! It’s a beautiful day in Montecito and Aaron and I are down having breakfast at the inn dining room. Though, I’m not going to eat anything as I want to go down the street to that Jeannine’s bakery one of you recommended so I’m writing some notes for the day, and reading The Wall Street Journal.  We’re going to check out Montecito, Santa Barbara, the surrounding towns, and then, later, go to Ojai farm country.

I love the weather here. It’s cooler than further south, but that suits my personality. I’d rather be outside in a sweater, reading, than sitting on the beach most days.

… a view of the dining room. I really like this place.

The rooms are nice, too. For being such an old inn, they did a good job updating them to modern standards. I didn’t like the lack of desk …

… but I made due with a chair in the corner.

We ran down to Jeannine’s and got something for the road, along with a coffee.

The entrance to the Four Seasons Santa Barbara was beautiful! And right across from the water!

We both loved this street. It was near the Four Seasons resort. It felt so well maintained.

We have seen more trains in Santa Barbara … this is like Kansas City or Omaha, it’s crazy. I wasn’t aware of this.

This street along the main shopping avenue was beautiful. I like that everything is forced into the proper architectural style so no company can ruin the feel.

I love that you can walk or bike nearly everywhere here. There are walking paths even alongside the highway.

I didn’t even notice I took a picture of a Sysco truck in the shopping area! It’s one of my absolute favorite long-term common stocks; one of those businesses that, if the price is good, I’m always open to buying more for a very, very long time. The economics are fantastic and the competitive moat enormous. Look at the dividend history.

I forgot the new X-Men movie is released! We need to go see that …

We visited Isla Vista, which was overrun with college students biking, walking around, and hanging out together. It was so vibrant, but way too close to the airport and loud for our tastes. You can tell we’re getting older because it was, “Look at all these young people having fun … good for them, but we want somewhere more secluded and quiet.”  Aaron was like, “You done here?”  Me: “Yep.”  So we left early – it was around 3 p.m., PST, when we drove out of town and headed for Solvang.