socal060We spent the morning visiting the Santa Barbara Mission.  This mission is quite large and is referred to as the “Queen of the Missions” because of its size and design.  Founded in 1786, it was another interesting stop on our quest of visiting all the missions in the state.  We took a self-guided tour of the grounds as we usually do.  Before getting back in the car, we wandered around back and found a large garden tended to by volunteers, one of whom gave us a quick look at the plants. 

By this time, we were hungry and on the tip of the gardener at the mission, went to a nearby outdoor mall that had a farmer’s market.  This let us get us some lunch and load up on some healthier snacks.  So much food comes from the surrounding area that the fruit was excellent and plentiful.  

Now full on food, we ventured north a little to squeeze in the wine tasting that we didn’t get to yesterday.  One of our favorite wineries again did not disappoint.  At this point, it was prime nap time so we went back to the hotel to change for the beach.  In an unusual case, I stayed mostly awake on the beach while L’ then went back to the room for a nap. 

We enjoyed our time in Santa Barbara and look forward to returning for a relaxing getaway.

View the photos from today:

http://www.sanjoseabrams.com/photos/SoCalJuly2012/Day%202%20-%20Santa%20Barbara/index.html