Hook & Press

The last best artisanal donuts we ever had, from Hook & Press in Santa Barbara.  My favorite: browned butter. Probably best not to have these every day, but if you have a donut, it may as well be a great one.

2020 Xmas ornament

 

With thanks to the Native American painter Kay WalkingStick.

Clark's nutcracker

 

A different kind of birdwatching: I accidentally stumbled upon this bird on one of my own blogs! It's from a post I did in 2011 about visiting Heavenly Mountain in Lake Tahoe. At the time I had no idea what it was, and later forgot that the photo even existed. The past decade however has made me a much better birder and I can say with some certainty that it's a Clark's nutcracker. This was a cool discovery since these very distinctive birds are found only at high altitudes.

Wills Canyon Trail

 

Once having established that the Ventura River is flowing, you go beyond it and get a nice taste of the Wills Canyon Trail.

Ventura River Preserve 2020, round 2

Sometimes you go back two days later and discover that in fact the river is flowing! 

Ventura River Preserve 2020

Sometimes you hike to what you think is the Ventura River, and leave with the impression that it's dry. So you go eat a chili relleno and hope for rain.

beach rocks

 

The rocks I encountered that day resembled raspberry taffy, chewy caramel, and a ladybug.

Arroyo Verde revisited

Although admittedly not very "verde" on this post-Thanksgiving, pre-rain hike, we enjoyed exploring new parts of the park's trail system and the occasional glimpse of the Channel Islands.

green lady 2020

 

Mr. T

 

It's not every day you encounter a rock with the letter "T" on it... although some see a "Y".

Montecito fence

reading under the redwoods

 

Another new place for me, Manning Park in Montecito. Redwoods don't naturally grow this far south, but this little grove seemed to be doing very well. A very peaceful little park.

Sulphur Mountain

 

In an effort to find more local hikes, I stumbled upon this gem - Sulphur Mountain Road - which runs for some 11 miles. Below is a nice view of Oak View as seen from above. On clear days, the ocean can also be glimpsed.

settling ponds at sunset

 

hawk at the beach

 Sometimes you see a hawk at the beach. It doesn't seem to be an osprey.

yellow-rumped warbler

I'm 90% sure this is a yellow-rumped warbler.

Biscoff

While I'm certainly not advocating it, it's interesting to note that "Europe's favorite cookie" comes in this form. NOTE: "Biscoff" is a portmanteau of "biscuit" and "coffee".

marbled godwit

 It's hard to get a good photo of a marbled godwit...