Cool California: Santa Barbara & Ventura

  The weather in California was perfect for exploring and enjoying.  We headed to the historic Santa Barbara to see the old Mission and explore the amazing courthouse and downtown area.

  We were going to stop at a Botanical garden of some sort, but with the high fire hazards they were closing early.  The kids were SUPER tired from our late night last night, so they dozed in the car.

    The Mission and Courhouse was a photographers DREAM!  Especially inside!  Check out the ceiling in the courthouse.

  Check out this slide show of the Mission.  
 
​  Do you all ever view these?  I sure hope so.
 Its so much simpler for me to upload to a slideshow format, then waiting for each individual photo to load.   :)

  The Courthouse was equally breathtaking and so full of history.....all the tiles were hand painted.  And check out this courtroom ceiling!

  We drove by this darling shopping area, so we walked through it for a while, and enjoyed the statues and these awesome little coves between shops and restaurants.....  

  Then it was time to get more serious about these darling shops, so we sent the guys on to the beach and headed down the sidewalk.
  We didn't get far before Drea spotted a legit French Pastry type shop.  We decided to browse a bit and ended up drooling over THIS as the guy behind the counter shoved samples at us left and right.

  He is very good at his job, because we ended up sitting down outside and ordering 3 desserts to share.

  See that one on the right? The swirly one. OH MY HEAVENS.  I still dream about it.

  It had raspberry in the bottom, then the most amazing meringue, not the wet kind more like powdered sugar, and then this mocha mousse on top.  It was like a cloud!  
​  Second place goes to the eclaire, and 3rd the strawberry tarte.

  This is about the time the guys started calling and asking when we were coming to the beach.  Hahahah!  As soon as we are done eating the best dessert you will never get to try!

  We headed to Ventura to see the pier and grab some seafood for dinner....

  If you ever get this way, be SURE to eat at Eric Erikkson's!  5 star all the way! 

  Check out this fish taco plate I got....

  We stayed until sunset, because that is what you do in Cali, and once again, California didn't disappoint!

  One more day of fun was planned with Papa and Drea before we had to move on to our next stop for about 12 classes, TEXAS!  Work hard, play harder, right?!

  See you next time!
​Hugs, T