Santa Barbara State Beach

The route to Santa Barbara was so scenic! So enjoyable! Plus, I love to drive, so this wasn't a stretch for me at all. We made one more pit stop before we got there. We got there sooner than I expected. One minute we were on the freeway, the next, we were on State Street!

Calvin suggested we head straight for the beach. Good idea, babe! Now, to find parking! We found a nice spot, probably the only one; right by the beach. Thank you, stars! I was so excited to be in one of the places I had always dreamt of going, I took a 360° video clip. Here it is!

State Beach, Santa Barbara, California

I had messaged Spencer Pratt, (remember him, from The Hills?) and asked for a recommendation for somewhere to eat. He lives in Santa Barbara. He recommended somewhere I had already been here in LA, so I didn't follow through on that. 

We walked towards the pier to do some sight seeing.

Not a cloud in the sky! 

The beach wasn't as crowded as the ones in LA. We walked all along the pier.

This happened!

I actually put money into that telescope. Twice! I still didn't really see anything! Oh well! At least, I can see very well with my own bare eyes! Speaking of seeing, we did see a dolphin right below where I am standing in the above picture. Calvin spotted it. There I was, WHERE? WHERE? WHERE? I saw it too! That added to my highlights of the day. There's a small shopping center on the pier; oh and by the way, more parking right on the pier too. Next time, that's where I'll be parking! Anyway,  I didn't see anything I wanted, bunch of souvenir stores and restaurants. I was hungry by then, so when we passed a candy store, it was calling! 

Liquorice All sorts. Yess!

I hadn't had these liquorice candies since South Africa. I was so happy to have stumbled upon them! I tried not to go crazy because Calvin Fun Police was busy telling me not to spoil my appetite before dinner.

White Chocolate and Almonds? Yes please!

One of my favorite things, white chocolate...and almonds. Combined? Heaven! I only bought two blocks of that and with the corner of my eye spotted honeycomb. Nommmmm! When I was younger, my oldest sister used to sell candy, popcorn and stuff like that for the neighborhood kids. And what we call ice. It's concentrate juice, poured in a small, clear, plastic, tied up and frozen. 10 cents for that. Back in the day. She used to go to Cadbury in Port Elizabeth and buy a ton of broken chocolates. They sold those for cheap, cheap. She would then bag them in the small bags she used for ice and sell them for a few cents. Anyway, I was addicted to those! Oh my goodness. I also love the Cadbury chocolate bar called Crunch, with honeycomb center. I saw this big piece and wondered how much that would be. Then I thought to myself, don't be greedy, just get two small pieces. You've bought enough candy! Do you know that the shop assistant gave me the giant piece? She charged me for the small ones and GAVE me the big one because nobody every buys the big pieces. SAY WHHHAAATTTT? Yes, please! I'll take it!

It looks much bigger in person

I couldn't believe my luck! I walked out of there with  a pep in my step. Next stop, food! But First!

We tried this restaurant on the pier but I don't think they wanted out money. I sat there and just about ate all my candy and nobody came to serve us! We ended up leaving and driving around town trying to find parking so we can walk to a restaurant. Parking is tricky downtown Santa Barbara. Eventually, we saw one lousy spot, grabbed it and just went to eat close to the parking spot.

The restaurants were packed in that vicinity and that's exactly what you want! Nobody wants to go to a ghost town of a restaurant! We ordered and then waited about an hour for our food. That, we did not anticipate! Everyone seemed happy, I was sitting there like, "where my food at?" The restaurant was packed with locals, you could tell those people probably eat there every night. It had a nice atmosphere to it. Our food finally arrived. It was in large plates, can't complain! But it wasn't delicious at all. Nothing to blog about! The food was cold and the drinks were warm. Guess where I won't be eating again? Parking spot or no parking spot! 

Calvin's food was warm and delicious though, so I had some of his. The plates were big enough, I could have some and he would still have enough for himself. 

After dinner, we headed for the camp sight. Talk about a joyride!

This was my the beach