A Fun Day in Milwaukee

Milwaukee Wisconsin is about an hour and a half from Chicago, so I’ve been wanting to check out a few things I heard were great. My friend Cheryl coming in from Kansas City was a good opportunity to have a fun road trip with a great friend plus Cheryl is always up for any crazy idea I concoct.

The first stop was the Milwaukee Art Museum. It’s located right in downtown Milwaukee on the beautiful shore of Lake Michigan. There was a special Scandinavian exhibit I was interested in seeing since I’m heading there very soon. Plus I had heard the museum was wonderful. That was actually an understatement. The building itself is spectacular and starts out right as you approach with the most incredible “wings” on top of the museum. They are called the Burke Brise Soleil and is a moveable sunscreen that rests on top of the museum’s vaulted glass-enclosed entrance hall. They open when the museum opens, close and reopen at noon, and close again when the museum closes. They are giant wings that are the size of a Boeing 747 and really take your breath away. It’s two ultrasonic wind sensors automatically close the wings if the wind speed reaches 23 mph or greater. Being right on the lake that probably happens pretty often. The picture of Cheryl and I on the left is before the wings opened and on the right fully opened. So cool!

What was a big surprise to me was how gorgeous the inside of the museum is and how the style of the sleek wings is reinterpreted throughout the entrance hall and hallways of the modern structure. All the while allowing you to gaze out at the gorgeous lake just steps away.

The Scandinavian exhibit was really great and made me even more excited for my upcoming trip. The museum had many exhibit rooms of their permanent collection, but we wanted to have a bite to eat and then head to our next destination. They have a small but nice cafe where you can get a coffee, drink, sandwich or salad etc. so we decided to get a light meal and take it out to one of the tables right by the lake since it was a perfect weather day. I will definitely plan to get back up there soon to see some of their other beautiful works of art.

Next stop the Joan of Arc Chapel on the campus of Marquette University. It is the oldest building in North America still used for the purpose it was intended. Build in 1420 it was purchased in 1966 by a wealthy couple who donated it to Marquette and had it taken apart, shipped to Milwaukee, and rebuilt on the campus. The chapel contains the stone that has a French endorsement of authenticity that it is the stone Joan prayed at for success in battle. She would then kiss the stone. Joan of Arc is a French heroine of the Hundred Years War and is now the patron saint of France. The stone is installed in a niche behind the altar and pictured in the bottom left below. Engineers have repeatedly tested the stone and found it is always at least a few degrees colder than all the other stones in the chapel. We were able to touch it and it did feel colder! We took the opportunity to sit for a few minutes and take in the peace and beauty of the chapel. Also say a few prayers for those we love and the world in general.

Did someone say we need dessert? Did I mention it was Cheryl’s birthday? Did you know Milwaukee is the world capital of frozen custard? All of these things are true! Let me share more information than you ever thought you needed to know about frozen custard. it originated in the UK and made its first appearance in the US in 1919 on Coney Island. It made it to Chicago in 1933 for the World’s Fair and then moved up into Wisconsin. More frozen custard is consumed in Milwaukee than anywhere in the world! So we just had to have some plus Cheryl needs a birthday treat. I did some research and landed on Leon’s. A Milwaukee legend since the early 1940’s. It did not disappoint. We decided we would share a sundae so the birthday girl picked fresh raspberry with hot fudge and salted pecans. It was incredible! Almost worth a trip to Milwaukee just for that! Your health tip of the day is that as good as it tastes - frozen custard is lower in calories and fat than most ice cream. So go ahead and indulge ever so often.

Our last stop before heading back to Illinois was the Burnham Block. Frank Lloyd Wright designed this block of American System-Built Homes in 1915. There are 6 homes in total - two one story homes and four two story duplexes. Wright was trying to solve the housing shortage and build smaller less expensive but still beautifully designed homes. In 1985 the block was added to the National Historic Registry and thanks to a remarkable group of volunteers the homes are being returned one by one to exactly how they were originally designed complete with furniture. They only do tours of the interiors on Saturdays with a reservation but our lucky stars aligned and there was a volunteer there working on a deck who offered to give us a private tour after we chatted about Wright a bit and he could see that we were more than just the casually curious. We felt like we had won the lottery! Not the billion dollar lottery but a pretty decent one😂

That was our fun day in Milwaukee! From the research I did in advance I know there are more things to see there so a return trip at some point is on my list. Enjoy the last month of summer and check back soon for my upcoming trip posts!

Driehaus & Charnley-Persky House Museums

A mini post about two beautiful historic architectural gems in Chicago that are worth visiting. Both on the National Historic Registry, built around the same time, and both available to visit and tour. The similarities end there as they are very different styles - which is one reason Chicago is such an architecturally significant city.

First the Richard H. Driehaus Museum located at 40 E Erie St, which is just a couple of blocks west of the Starbucks Roastery on Michigan Ave. This home was built in 1883 for Samuel M. Nickerson - a wealthy Chicago banker. The museum is named for Richard Driehaus - a Chicago businessman, philanthropist and art collector. The restored mansion is not a recreation of the Nickerson period - but rather broadly interprets the design, architecture, and decorating tastes of Gilded Age America and the art nouveau era.

The museum displays original furnishings from the Nickerson era along with decorative arts of the late 19th and early 20th century along with works by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The house took 4 years to build and cost $450,000 - a very large amount of money for the time - but that translates to over 10 million in todays costs. And having been there I totally believe it! I called it a mind blowing experience - I can’t ever recall seeing such exquisite attention to detail everywhere you look.

The Driehaus is closed Monday and Tuesday and usually open Wednesday through Sunday from 11-5. The second floor has been restored and is used for special exhibits. Check the website for all the details. I highly recommend paying the extra $5 for the docent led tour. It was excellent. And they have a small but really fantastic gift shop!

Next up the Charnley-Persky House Museum. Located at 1365 N Astor St, just a few blocks north of the Drake Hotel on Michigan Ave and a block west of Lake Shore Dr. This house was built in 1891 and is one of the few surviving buildings designed by two of the most famous architects in the US - Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright💙

Wright was a young man working for Adler and Sullivan but I saw so many of his ideas - quite an endorsement from a revered architect like Sullivan to allow so much input from his employee. This new style embodies the desire of Sullivan and Wright to create an American style of architecture, and was the basis for Wright’s Prairie style.

This museum has more limited hours available for tours so please check the website before heading there. I definitely recommend booking your ticket in advance as you can only see the home on a tour and the groups are fairly small.

The home was built for the Charnley family but was saved and restored by Chicago philanthropist Seymour Persky in 1995. He provided the Society of Architectural Historians with the funds to purchase the house and it is now the international headquarters of that organization. Another important architectural piece of history saved.

That’s it for now! Thanks for letting me share my love of history, architecture and Chicago with you💕

Lake Tahoe 🌄

My third trip to Lake Tahoe and I would be happy to return again. So beautiful if you love nature. It’s a popular place to ski and I hear summers are great for boating and water activities, but my favorite time is late spring and early fall. It’s not that crowded and since one of my favorite things to do is hike it’s pretty perfect. A BIG thank you to my friend Liz for hosting Peggy and I again at her beautiful home on the lake. She’s our built in tour guide as she has been going there for many years and she even makes us delicious meals! My view for the days I was there 😊

You may recall that Tahoe got an unusually large amount of snow this past winter. Huge in fact, so even though it was the middle of May lots of snow still covering trails. But Liz had planned for lots of alternate trails if one we had wanted to hike was closed. On the days we hiked we would get up and just head out to hike close to where we were staying. Lots of great hikes right outside her door so here’s a picture of Liz and I doing that one morning. Thanks for being our photographer Peggy!

Then head back to the house for lunch and out for another hike in the afternoon - this time using the car to get further away. One of our favorite hikes is at Emerald Bay. You see waterfalls and hike all the way to the bottom where there is this cool old estate you can tour. We headed there but upon arrival discovered due to an avalanche the trail would be closed for at least another month. So this year just views from the top. There is actually a little island in Emerald Bay so you can see it in this picture.

The waterfalls at Emerald Bay were really fantastic - much larger then I’ve seen them in the past due to the melting of all that extra snow.

Another day we headed to Van Sickle Bi-State Park to hike and saw breathtaking views as we climbed as high as possible with all the snow covering the trails. Luckily Liz had the All Trails APP to help us navigate as we did lose the trail often. We didn’t make it to see the waterfall as there was just too much snow but the views were worth the hike.

It’s called Van Sickle Bi-State Park because it’s in Nevada and California and here’s the proof.

Liz suggested taking a drive to Virginia City, Nevada to experience a real western town, and also supposedly one of the most haunted cities in the US. Why not? We even did some googling to find out where the most haunted places to visit were and put possible ghost tour on our agenda. Virginia City was a huge town for silver and gold mining in the 19th century due to the Comstock Lode discovered in 1859. It was the most important industrial city between Denver and San Francisco and had a population of 25,000 people. Well now the population is just 900 people and it appears their main source of revenue is tourism. We talked to a number of the locals first of all to get their opinion on the best place for lunch, and second to ask about all the ghost activity we read about. The consensus was the Red Dog Saloon for lunch and yes lots of spirits around due to all the mining accidents that happened due to the poor mining conditions at that time. If you’re familiar with the TV show Ghost Hunters then you probably know they frequently film from Virginia City. We did eat lunch at the Red Dog Saloon and it was pretty good. Browsed some of the shops downtown and took a walk through the Silver Dollar Saloon. I was so taken back in the saloon that I forgot to take a picture but evidently women who enter take off their bra and leave it behind, and maybe men are required to leave a dollar bill? The walls and ceiling are covered in dollar bills and their are bra’s hanging everywhere! Plus my nose told me immediately that smoking is not only allowed but encouraged. I’m out! But worth a walk through😂

We decided to take the ghost tour that was most frequently featured on Ghost Hunters at the Old Washoe Club. It was totally worth the $10 even though (thankfully) we didn’t see or hear a ghost. Zach our tour guide did a great job of sharing the history of the town and of the club. In it’s prime it was I’m sure a beautiful building, but time has not been kind so while the first floor is still an active saloon, the upper two levels are uninhabitable - except of course for the ghosts. Zach took us into each of the rooms and told us about some of the people that had lived there that they believe are the ghosts still present. Most of the people had met untimely deaths and one by suicide - so kind of grim. But to his credit he was super matter of fact as everyone in town was about the fact that they just accept the spirits as part of their town. There is a crypt that I did get the chills in because when typhoid was an issue the morgue ran out of space so they stacked the bodies of about 100 people in this shaft - most of them children and then showed us a picture someone supposedly took of a child ghost floating around. Ok I’m out.

One of the rooms on the 2nd floor had this poker table set up and Zach said back in the day Ulysses S Grant, Mark Twain and a couple of other famous people I can’t remember used to meet there and play poker nonstop for days!

There is also a cemetery that is very haunted and weird things have been seen especially around Halloween so we made a stop there too. Actually I have always wanted to see wild horses and thought I would have to go to Wyoming to check that off my list - but the locals told me that wild horses are often seen in the cemetery so that was my major motivation for going. Plus I really kind of like old cemeteries- seeing the dates and how many people died so young. A reminder to enjoy every day because you don’t know how much time you have. Well not to keep you in suspense but we didn’t see any wild horses. Well not in the cemetery but we did see them on our drive home! And also the next day on the drive to the airport. So that was awesome.

Normally I post a lot of food. Well Liz cooked and we ate most of our meals at her home, so it wasn’t really a focus of this trip. We did go to the cute town of Truckee, CA for lunch after Liz picked us up at the airport. We ate at the American Bar and the food was great. I had delicious fish tacos but was too hungry to take a picture. Our flight left early and we had a quick plane change in Phoenix so no time for food. I did take this picture right outside the restaurant. I thought it was so funny because we were starving and I was hoping we wouldn’t have to resort to extreme measures for food.😂 Truckee also has cute shops we browsed after eating before heading to Liz’s and taking our first hike.

We did force Liz to let us take her out one night for dinner as a thank you - so went to the Bistro at the Edgewater Resort. We had been there before and it’s a really lovely very fancy hotel with spa and I think golf and a couple of nice restaurants. Our food was good but you really go for the spectacular views. The lobby has this very cool staircase and our tradition is that we take a photo on the stairs. So no food pics but at least the staircase happened.

Liz took this pic of Peggy and I and her daughter Maddie who stopped for one night on her way driving through Tahoe of our favorite place to have an adult beverage at the end of the day. These benches are right on the water and it’s a spectacular view of Lake Tahoe. It never gets old.

Sunset at the Edgewater Resort. I’ll be back! Thanks for a great trip Liz and thanks Peggy for being a great travel companion. Jump while you can💕

Top 10 Things to See in Chicago

Now that I live in Chicago - a city so many people love to visit - I’m asked often what I recommend to do and see while here. So I decided I would just put my list right here on my blog so when asked I can just send out the link! Of course this is all my opinion - but I do know quite a bit about Chicago. Let me state right now I am NOT a foodie. So this is not a list of the best restaurants to be sure and visit. Plenty of resources available to find that out like Yelp. So the extent of my food advice is to be sure and try deep dish pizza. Chicago invented it so there are many great places to try it with multiple locations - so pick one closest to you like the one you just walked by😂 Also try an Italian beef sandwich - also quite famous in Chicago and not to be confused with a Philly cheese steak - totally different! A number of great places to get one - but make sure it’s a place that just does beef sandwiches - not a restaurant that happens to have Italian beef on the menu. Don’t ask for cheese. Your only decision is should they add peppers and if you want it extra juicy ask them to dip it. Your life will forever be changed🤗

Now for my list:

• The Architectural Boat Tour. Chicago is considered to be the most architecturally significant city in the US - thanks to the Chicago Fire of 1871. The whole city burned down and so new Architects and ideas were welcomed with open arms. DO THE BOAT TOUR! I think the best one is done by the Chicago Architectural Center located right on the southeast corner of Michigan Ave. and E. Wacker Dr. That is where the Chicago River crosses Michigan Ave. It’s a bit pricey but worth it. 90 minutes with people that really know their information and are excited to share it with you. And there is no better way to see the buildings than from the water. Look for the blue awning at 112 E Wacker. For an additional $5 you can visit the Chicago Architectural Center right across the street and your ticket to visit is good 7 days before or after your boat tour so you can return and do it a different day. You won’t regret it. I have recommended it to so many people and 100% say it was their favorite thing. And if you don’t really care about architecture it’s still a great boat ride! The boats are very busy during the summer so it’s wise to book your ticket online in advance. The website is architecture.org

• Visit Millennium Park. Take a picture holding up what everyone calls the bean. The actual name is Cloud Gate and the artist is Anish Kapoor. So much more to see than just the bean so take some time and walk around. It’s a great place to get some food and sit on a bench and people watch. If you have kids let them play in the fountains. Totally free. Enjoy!

• Visit the Cultural Center which is right across the street from Millennium Park. A gorgeous building that opened in 1897 as Chicago’s first central library and often referred to as the People’s Palace. A spectacular building that has the largest Tiffany Dome in the world. I’ve been to the Taj Mahal and on the inside that’s what it reminds me of. The mosaic is incredible. The top floor which used to be the reading room usually has some kind of cool exhibit. It’s all free and open from 10-5 seven days a week. If you like seeing large Tiffany installations walk over to Macy’s (used to be Marshall Fields) on State St between Washington and Randolph and see the largest Tiffany Vault in the world right above the cosmetics department. (And you can still buy Frango Mints there too!)

• Visit a museum. Or two. Or three. We have so many great ones. A few of the most popular are the Art Institute, the Field Museum, the Aquarium, the Museum of Science and Industry and the Planetarium. And most of those are really in close proximity. They are world class museums and there are so many smaller ones that are fantastic as well. One of my new favorites is the Driehaus Museum which is located just a few blocks west of Michigan Ave on E Erie St. This was the home of a very wealthy banker built in 1883 and has been meticulously restored and is an explosion of art, architectural and design of the late 19th-century with a focus on the Gilded Age. Check the website for hours it is open.

• Walk up and down Michigan Ave. Do some window shopping or actual shopping. There are many high end stores but also affordable cool places to buy yourself a nice souvenir of your trip. At the north end you will see the only two buildings left standing post Chicago Fire. One is the Water Tower and it’s very cool. Just north of it is the Water Tower high rise shopping center. Even if you don’t like coffee consider a stop at the Starbucks Roastery on the SW corner of Michigan Ave and E Erie St. It’s the largest Starbucks in the world and has great food, cocktails and really excellent coffee with a huge roastery right in the center. But if there is a big line to get in which is not unusual on a weekend in the summer I would skip it.

• Weather permitting take a walk up or down the lake. Don’t miss the Clarence F. Buckingham Fountain - one of the largest fountains in the world. Installed in 1927 it operates from early May until mid October. On the hour there is a 20 minute major water display and at dusk it is accompanied by lights and music. The lakefront is beautiful and you can walk for miles. In the warm weather tons of boats out and if that’s your thing you can rent boats and join the fun.

• Navy Pier is also worth a stop. Tons of restaurants and one of the best views of the skyline you could hope to see. There is a huge Ferris wheel that also gives you a bird’s eye view of the city. I’m not a huge fan of heights but the cars are large and enclosed so even I felt comfortable. During the summer months they do a wonderful fireworks show one or sometimes two nights a week. Check their website for details.

• Chicago has a fantastic array of theaters, Broadway Shows, concerts and live music in any genre you prefer. Also Second City which is a very famous Improv Theater located in Old Town that started the careers of many comedians that ended up on Saturday Night Live. Check out their website and get ready for a fun night of laughter. You will be laughing at the comedians and there is a chance they might be laughing at you! If sports is your thing than all kinds of professional teams to get tickets to see too.

• If you’re feeling the need to get away from the skyscrapers and enjoy nature head north of North Ave to Lincoln Park. A large and beautiful park that has a free zoo and lagoons, places for picnics and great views of the skyline.

• Last but not least more architecture! If you prefer to be on land and not water the Chicago Architectural Center offers a multitude of walking tours with very knowledgeable guides. Quite a number of them right in the downtown area with different themes typically starting right at the center located on Michigan Ave and E Wacker Dr.

Bonus Suggestion: Take the Green Line (the elevated train - known as the L) out to Oak Park and tour the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio. Wright is considered to be the most important American architect from the late 19th to the mid 20th century and his home and studio - where it all began - is open 7 days a week from 9AM till 5PM for tours. Oak Park has the largest number of Wright homes of anywhere in the world and while you can only get inside the home and studio you can see the others from the outside. So if that’s of interest it’s an easy and fast trip to get out there.

And now for pics of some of the things I suggested. Just because it’s fun to see pictures🤗

I hope you find this information helpful if you’re planning to come visit the beautiful amazing city of Chicago. Is there crime here? Well yes there is just as pretty much every city in the US. But in my experience it’s a bit blown out of proportion by the press. That being said use good judgement. Wear a crossbody small bag in front of you with just your essentials and don’t wear your biggest most expensive jewelry. Always be aware of your surroundings. Just common sense. Happy travels!

Final Week - Santa Barbara❤️

My first time in Santa Barbara and I loved it! So beautiful sandwiched in between the ocean and the mountains. In one day you can do both - and we did! I estimate it is about a three and a half hour drive from Newport Beach - a two hour drive north of LA depending on traffic. Deidre and I had rented an AirBNB there, but couldn’t check in till 3PM so decided to stop for lunch in Ventura on the way. It was a pretty sunny day so we had lunch right on the wharf at a local restaurant recommended to us called Brophy Bros. We had great clam chowder and salads and then decided to walk out to the beach. Have you heard of the Channel Islands? I had not, so was blown away by what I learned post lunch. There are eight islands off the coast of Southern California and they are part of our National Park system. Four are quite close to Ventura and Santa Barbara and the other 4 further south. We stumbled into the information building right off the Ventura wharf and saw an awesome 25 minute movie about them narrated by Kevin Costner. You can watch it from their website and it’s fascinating. Uninhabited now, but considered to be the US version of the Galápagos Islands as far as animals and plants. You can take a boat out and visit for the day or even take camping gear and spend the night, but all need reservations made in advance. Once there you can hike and even rent kayaks and explore caves. I have added this to my list of things to definitely do on my next trip to the area.

We made it to our AirBNB and it was definitely high up in the mountains. An awesome view but quite the windy road to get there. Poor Deidre in the passenger seat! The hotels in Santa Barbara are quite pricey even in this what is considered off season - and there are restrictions on AirBNB’s closer to downtown and the water so we knew we would be about a 10 to 15 minute drive from downtown. It was great as it was super quiet and quite a view at sunrise of the ocean.

The day was perfect until we got into Santa Barbara and then it got overcast and started to sprinkle. What to do that first night in the rain? Go see a play! The University of CA Santa Barbara has a great theater department and Deidre found a play called She Wolf that had just opened. We called to get tickets but they said they were sold out but if we came early they would try to get us in. So we did…and they did! We got to see a bit of the campus as we drove around trying to figure out where to park and it looked like a great place to go to school. The play was very interesting. A modern twist on Queen Margaret. Who says I can’t be spontaneous?😂

We had three full days in SB so our plan was to spend the first day in the downtown area seeing all the history and gorgeous architecture, trying some of the famous area wine and getting some delicious food. We accomplished all our goals. You can take what is called the Red Tile Walking Tour (self guided) by either down loading it or picking up a map in the Tourist Office in the Court House where the tour originates, or down closer to the wharf at the TI in the Funk Zone. We picked up a paper copy at the Court House, and if you only see one thing in SB it should be the Court House. Spectacular! We spent at least an hour there as there is so much to see. And you can go up in the tower and see the area in all four directions. They have free guided tours twice a day but we missed the 10AM one so just explored on our own.

Another great thing about the walking tour is that it takes you through the whole downtown so whenever you’re hungry there are plenty of places to eat. Bakeries always call my name loudly so when we walked by Andersen Restaurant and Bakery I just had to stop. We got chicken vegetable soup and shared a veggie sandwich so that we would have room for dessert. So many delicious options! Such a cute place and the people working there were lovely. In fact they gave us a dessert to share! That’s a pic of me so happy because I’m eating something sweet!

We took our time on the tour stopping at various cute shops that looked interesting or fun in between seeing the historic buildings. The SB Historical Museum was worth a good look and it’s free so we enjoyed seeing the various exhibits giving us some great information about the early years and the people that were integral to Santa Barbara becoming the beautiful town it is.

Now what about all that wine we’ve been hearing so much about? Head to the Funk Zone! That’s just one of the areas downtown where you have many choices to taste the local wines. We decided the SB Wine Collective looked good so decided to each try a wine flight. I like whites and Deidre likes reds. We were helped by a very knowledgeable bartender and each got to try 4 wines. Then we discussed which ones we liked best and even which labels and names were our favorites. Very fun.

Now for dinner. We had read about a place called The Lark so gave it a try. Wonderful! Definitely so memorable. Everything is meant to share which was perfect for us. A friend of Deidre’s was meeting us so we ordered a few things knowing if we needed more food we could just order more. I did a terrible job of snapping food pics - actually didn’t take any so you’ll just have to trust me that it was great. A kale salad, brussel sprouts, pimento toast and Italian doughnuts for dessert. They were way fancier than my humble description but all so delicious. Inside they have big community tables so great for a group. We sat outside and it was a lovely patio with flowers and lots of heat lamps and fire pits. Number one on my list when I return. We didn’t have a reservation but got there fairly early and they seated us but during a busier time I would recommend a reservation for sure.

Day Two. The plan was to head out and drive through the wine country and stop at a few of the darling towns just 45 minutes from Santa Barbara. First stop was Solvang which if you woke up there you might think you had been transported while you slept to Denmark. So adorable and so many amazing bakeries! They even have a windmill. I twisted Deidre’s arm to make a stop for coffee and a pastry. The pastries were big so we shared one. I wish I had one right now!

We decided to head to Los Olivos which was just 5 miles away and seemed from our research to be great also. We were not disappointed. Totally different than Solvang - quite a bit smaller and more artsy and has 30 wine tasting spots! 30! It was hard to decide since they all looked great so we basically just finally stopped and said this one. Ended up with wine from Larner and split a sandwich from Panini next door. Done!

We found Deidre’s favorite wine AND label from the wine flight the night before so here she is pointing to it.

Things we didn’t know. Michael Jackson’s Neverland Castle is just 5 miles from Los Olivos. I guess I just assumed it was closer to LA. A woman in a store in Solvang told us we should go there so we thought since we are so close why not? Well we went so you don’t have to. All you can see is the gate and there is a guard so they don’t let you park in the drive. But he was nice and said we could park on the road and take pictures. I assume someone else owns it now. So here you go! The gate to Neverland. People write on the stones and leave messages for Michael. We did not. RIP MJ💙I did like his music.

Is that enough for one day? Not even close! We headed back to Santa Barbara to visit the Art Museum. It’s open from 5-8PM on Thursday nights and it’s free. On the first Thursday of the month it’s really special and they have live music and entertainment. It pays to do some research. So we headed there and while it’s not a large museum it has some interesting pieces and a decent European collection for a small museum. And the live music was wonderful.

For dinner we decided to try La Super-Rica Taqueria. Reason being in the 7 travel books I read to get ideas for SB every single book recommended this restaurant. How could they all be wrong? And Deidre’s friend mentioned it as well as a legendary spot to be sure and try. So we did. First of all bring cash. They don’t take credit cards, and it’s not fancy. In fact I’m pretty sure it’s exactly the same as it was decades ago. Order at the window and they will call your number for pickup when it’s ready. Not a huge place to sit and eat and most people getting it to go. We deliberated over what to order and ended up ordering a beef taco, a marinated pork taco, a chicken breast with cheese on a tortilla and a side of rice and took it home and shared it all. The entire bill with tip was $17. It was very good. Not Lark good but still worth a stop. You don’t want to be the person who goes to Santa Barbara and doesn’t eat there right?

Now that was Day Two - on to Day Three. On our agenda - hiking, and everything else we hadn’t had a chance to do. You might have heard there was a lot of rain in CA in January. Emphasis on A LOT! We definitely could see evidence of many of the mudslides as we drove up to our place on the mountain, so many hiking trails are technically closed. The rule is kind of if there are no other cars parked at the trailhead you shouldn’t hike but if there are cars then go ahead and try it. The worst is that it will be muddy and you might have to turn around. We wanted to hike at Rattlesnake Canyon and the hiking sites said it was closed but when we got there we saw lots of cars so decided to give it a try. It was challenging but we took our time crossing the streams and getting through some mud on the climbs. Some really amazing views if you remember to look up frequently and enjoy where you are! We got really close to the end where you can either pull out the gear you brought to rock climb - or turn around and go back down. The majority of people we saw hiking had their gear with them and we definitely did not so when we got really close to the end and our choice was leap like a gazelle across the stones at the top of the waterfall to cross it and continue or turn around and go back we decided to use our heads and retreat. I have no regrets and I lived to write about it. Winning!

We hadn’t made it out to Stearns Wharf yet - so drove back downtown, parked and walked out on it. It’s a cool wharf and quite historic built originally in 1872 and the longest deep-water wharf between San Francisco and San Pedro. It is the oldest working wood wharf in California, and has a couple of restaurants, tourist shops, and a marine museum. We almost made a big mistake and ate on the wharf - but when we sat down at a restaurant that shall remain nameless the good samaritans sitting next to us said leave while you can - the food is terrible here! We looked around and noticed quite a bit of food left on tables almost untouched so we discreetly left and walked off the wharf and headed back into town. I’m sure not all the restaurants are bad, we just probably picked the wrong day for this place. We were craving one last meal of fish tacos and saw a cute place called Finney’s Crafthouse and Kitchen and decided to give it a try. It was great! Really delicious fish tacos and a chicken quesadilla that we shared.

We spent our last couple of daylight hours driving down the Main Street in Montecito, which is really part of Santa Barbara so very close, and walking down Butterfly Beach which is right across from the Biltmore Hotel and definitely is the nicest beach in Santa Barbara. I had read it was the best beach sunset in the area so that’s what we were hoping. Here you go!

Last meal was at a cute little wine bar back in downtown SB called Appertivo close to the Funk Zone. Just a nice glass of wine each and we shared a salad and pasta - perfect! Very tiny place but really great people.

We had an excellent time in Santa Barbara. Still lots of things to go back to do, see and eat. Thanks for being a great travel partner Deidre! I will be back!