Sal and Tad in Santa Barbara

On April 30, 2009, Tad, Sally and Smart ventured off to Santa Barbara for five fun-filled nights in the beautiful town of Santa Barbara. So many Californians feel a special bond with that town, and I have often heard a familiar refrain, "That's my favorite town," when reminiscing on times spent in Santa Barbara and the surrounding towns and areas.

We arrived in town after taking a very round-a-bout way route, including a detour through Grover Beach, Guadalupe and the town of Lompoc. After Lompoc, we turned off onto Santa Rosa Road and went to the La Fond tasting room and had a lovely bit of wine. For $5 they give you your very own crystal wine glass and a tasting of 6 or so wines. Not a bad deal.

Arriving in Santa Barbara aroud 4pm, we locate our rental-The Painted Pony Bungalow. If nothing else, this rental had been named with me in mind! It was in a residential area 6 blocks off State Street toward the Santa Barbara Bowl. A fabulous 1920's era 2 bed, 1 bath home with a yard and hot tub. Who could even ask for more? The house met and exceeded expectations, as most rentals from vrbo.com do.

We shopped, stocking our beautiful kitchen with necessities for making ourselves at home. Later that night, we took a hot tub, and everyone was thrilled.

Jenny and Ian visited on Saturday, May 2nd. We had a great afternoon, and visited the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens (which is dog-friendly, I might add). It was a magical afternoon and the evening consisted of Tad's famous burgers and another hot tub.

Jen and Ian stayed over and on Sunday, after a hot tub (of course!) we travelled down to Carpinteria to the Corktree Bistro for a bit of brunch. They serve a lobster (with avocado, if you want) eggs benedict! Whoa! Yum! Ian and Tad went to the "World's Safest Beach," with Smart, and saw a lot of wildlife (including dolphins! The girls shopped and took it easy.

Our days in Santa Barbara were so fun, we decided to stay a sixth night. On that sixth day, however, we observed a fire starting up the hill from Santa Barbara. We had thought it was far up the mountain, maybe even in the Los Padres National Forest. The plume of smoke travelled miles out to see, towards Santa Cruz Island. We headed back through Montecito and drove around the ruins of the old Miramar Hotel.

For anyone my age or older, they should remember the Miramar Hotel. The property extended from Highway 101 to the ocean, with the train track going through the middle of it all. In the 1930's it was very fancy, and I have many memories of this place and all of them are good. Over the last 10 years or more, I realize I have not noticed this hotel as I have driven south. I just always assumed I had missed it--although it was hard to miss with its white buildings and blue, Asian style wave tiles along the rooflines.

Now, I know the sad story, and the tragic future of this one-of-a-kind property. It had been closed--sometime back when Jenny and I still rode horses. Environmental contraints and local neighborhood opposition has kept this fabulous property from being re-developed. Don't these people hate seeing the ruins of all those buildings? Don't they hold any disdain for the gang tagging, vandalism, and broken down dreams of a once-posh hotel? Don't they realize that all that neglect will bring them only more negativity and potential problems? It is very sad, in fact is a crime.

Trying to get over the shock of the abandoned ruins, we headed through the coast village part of Montecito and gave little thought to the signs at the gas station stating they were out of mid and high test gasoline. We merely thought it was a missed delivery and since we run high test in the truck, we continued back into Santa Barbara.

What a shock. The sky was orange, and ashes were raining down over everything. It smelled of smoke and all the anxiety from last year's Basin Complex Fire returned. We thought we could stick it out, since we had already arranged for the extra night. The power flickered off and on, and our trusty radio station KTYD kept going off-air.

We went on a water and candle snatch-mission to Trader Joe's, which had just barely re-opened when we arrived (due to power outages). We received a call from the owner of the Bungalow, stating he would need to install a landline in case of a reverse 911 call infoming us of immenent evacuation. He recommended we pack while it was still light, in case the call came in the night. Hmmmmmm. We decided we should probably just leave and drive back before all hell broke loose.

Then, the shock of actual urban crisis hit. The gas issue in Montecito had nothing to do with a missed delivery-the station, like most others in Santa Barbara, was actually OUT of gas. Residents had reflexively proceeded to the nearest gas station and purchased all the gas in the town. This was truly alarming. At the time, only 1200 houses had been evacuated and that fraction of the population of Santa Barbara was enough to impact the entire gas stores of the city. Imagine a crisis affecting the entire city.

God Bless Santa Barbara, and all its inhabitants and their homes. We truly hope all lives can be protected in such a time, and prayers go out to all.