Summery Santa Barbara

Stace took Friday off, as it's the last couple of days before Violet returns to school, so we could have a family day together.

We started with a trip to Baked Bar L.A., a French-style bakery that has taken over the venerable Jill's Cake Creations. 

Jill was in business forever, created our wedding cake, and has happily moved into retirement. I'd seen that the new owners were offering nice coffees and these gorgeous strawberry croissants, so Stace taking a morning off was a perfect time to go as a family.

We then took Cora home, and the three of us went up to Santa Barbara, one of Violet's happy places. We made a trip to the Santa Barbara Courthouse, a beautiful building with a five-story clocktower with amazing views.

 

Here we are at the top, with the ocean in the distance. 

The site was hosting a summer family movie night, so you can see people staking their spots with blankets.

If you can blow this photo up, you might make out the Santa Barbara Mission in the background. Look for two white towers surrounded by green.

Santa Barbara is pretty much perfect from nearly every vantage point.

I peeked in the law library and had to get a photo - this is a courthouse, but look at those ceilings!

Artwork on the walls tells the story of the region, including a pirate pillaging a nearby rancho.

The courthouse is beautiful inside, with tile stairways and wooden beamed ceilings. Many weddings happen here, and we watched the ending of one (they must be open rooms, because it's a public building).

Just across the street, a plaza featured this 1741 Spanish galleon cannon and 1761 Mission bell, below. 

We walked around a bit, got lunch, and did a little shopping. The weather was perfect.

We then went to the marina, so Violet could get her favorite Japanese food. While she and Stace ordered, I got a coffee nearby. I ordered a vanilla macchiato, not fully understanding how different a real macchiato is from one at Starbucks. A real one is two shots of espresso and a dollop of foam (and in my case, syrup). No poured milk, so a very small drink in a tiny cup. I was surprised when I picked it up, and Stace had a good laugh when I joined them. 

Then, after I took a photo of the scene for this blog, Violet accidentally elbowed my drink directly into the front opening of my handbag. (Not her fault, I should have moved my drink quickly after getting the pic.) My phone, and many things in my purse, soaked in syrupy espresso. I was able to pour some of the drink BACK into the empty cup. I guess that's what I get for greedily trying to order a SECOND purchased coffee drink in one day!

We then made our move to return home, and the traffic was awful. We dropped Stace off at soccer, I took Violet home, and then picked Stace back up, and we went to Pocock together. No drink mishaps occurred.