Photographic highlights of Santa Barbara, CA
As you can imagine, I took a ton of photos, many of the vegetation and architectural decoration. I fell in love with all the trees, and the pleasing contrast between familiar exotics such as citrus, palm and olive trees, familiar deciduous trees like sweetgum and sycamore, and strange and wonderful ones I have yet to identify. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the botanical garden in Mission Canyon, though I came close.
But don't worry! I won't bore you with my trees, at least not this time. I've winnowed my collection of photos to eight, which hopefully find a happy medium between a travel brochure and individual perspective.
I spent most of my time wandering up and down State Street, which is the main street downtown, running roughly north/south and terminating at the wharf.
In addition to many trees, the street also features several fountains and relatively clean public restrooms (yay!). This eight-pointed-star fountain is in front of the Santa Barbara Hotel, on one of the few blocks paved in terracotta tiles.
A little intermingling of cultures:
I fell in love with the mountains, and never tired of seeing them from every street corner. An eastward view, with a sample of the common red tile & stucco architecture:
Decorative tiles were everywhere, on benches, around public telephones... These border a window of Macy's, tastefully complemented by the wild-grape-type vine.
On either side of the train crossing was a diagonal tiled bench illustrating night/day scenes of a train coming through the mountains, with a row of beach-scape tiles leading southward toward the ocean.
Near the train station is a 130 year old Moreton Bay fig tree, native to Australia:
Finally, the Pacific Ocean! (technically the Santa Barbara Channel, but close enough)
Some birds at the beach (ID in progress):
And last, but not least, I wandered northeastward toward the historic Franciscan mission (the façade on the left), and as I was leaving, I looked back to see a rainbow in the mountains.
But don't worry! I won't bore you with my trees, at least not this time. I've winnowed my collection of photos to eight, which hopefully find a happy medium between a travel brochure and individual perspective.
I spent most of my time wandering up and down State Street, which is the main street downtown, running roughly north/south and terminating at the wharf.
In addition to many trees, the street also features several fountains and relatively clean public restrooms (yay!). This eight-pointed-star fountain is in front of the Santa Barbara Hotel, on one of the few blocks paved in terracotta tiles.
A little intermingling of cultures:
I fell in love with the mountains, and never tired of seeing them from every street corner. An eastward view, with a sample of the common red tile & stucco architecture:
Decorative tiles were everywhere, on benches, around public telephones... These border a window of Macy's, tastefully complemented by the wild-grape-type vine.
On either side of the train crossing was a diagonal tiled bench illustrating night/day scenes of a train coming through the mountains, with a row of beach-scape tiles leading southward toward the ocean.
Near the train station is a 130 year old Moreton Bay fig tree, native to Australia:
Finally, the Pacific Ocean! (technically the Santa Barbara Channel, but close enough)
Some birds at the beach (ID in progress):
And last, but not least, I wandered northeastward toward the historic Franciscan mission (the façade on the left), and as I was leaving, I looked back to see a rainbow in the mountains.