Many find Santa Barbara worth paying a visit for it's pleasant coastal climate, Spanish architecture and youthful vivacity.
This is a real holiday area.
With hills on the background and beaches lined by palm trees, the pretty town looks rich and prosperous.
Even though this first impression may change if you take a stroll outside the historic State Street area.
I haven't seen so many homeless together in a long time. Often accompanied by dogs they wander the streets pushing grocery carts loaded with junk.
So sad!
We enjoyed the beach and pool at our hotel
but we couldn't miss the old historical Mission.
It felt a little strange seeing historical buildings like those here in California.
Last weekend Santa Barbara was even more crowded because of it's Fiesta.
The original noble purpose of increasing presence of police to avoid incidents during the celebrations shifted obviously to hunting for confused tourists lost in the chaotic downtown's traffic. The unlucky ones had to add a traffic ticket to the price of their Santa Barbara stay.
The police beacons red and blue lights were flashing all over the place.
I'd rather not comment on that any further but it was quite a relief to leave Santa Barbara on Sunday morning.
We stopped in the kitschy Danish town of Solvang traditionally to buy European bread and pastry.
Our trip home went smoothly.
But then just past Fremont we got accompanied by this strange acting police car.
The car was being driven in an aggressive erratic manner across the freeway switching lanes continually.
The police behaviour in this country still puzzles me.
