Day 12: Santa Barbara
Welcome
Yesterday we continued up the west coast to Santa Barbara for our show at Soho Restaurant and Music Club.
We hit the road at eleven and grabbed breakfast from a Sprouts before leaving Santa Ana. I hit the deli and ordered a Caprese – Mozarella, Basil, Tomato, Basil Pesto, on a Ciabatta roll.
Tristan was behind the wheel as we rode the 405 north past Long Beach and Santa Monica. There was plenty of traffic to enjoy and by the time we reached Santa Barbara we were fully satisfied with our Southern Californian freeway experience.
The Santa Rosa Valley seen from the 101.
It was a spacious afternoon with plenty of time in the schedule for the preshow setup. We finished soundcheck early and that left time to explore the town which was in the throes of its Fiesta week. I walked for about half an hour to get down to the pier and along the way caught several Mariachi bands at the beginning of what was surely to be a long night for them.
Santa Barbara Harbour as seen from the pier. You might enjoy watching this gif while this song is playing in the background.
We got to play an early show for a change and it was a joy. The venue filled out pretty well and there were even folks out on the patio dancing while viewing the stage on a TV.
All hands were on deck for a quick pack-out after our set and we achieved this by 11.30pm. Then it was Tristan behind the wheel again driving us the 90 minutes to San Luis Obispo where we would get a few hours rest before the early morning drive to San Francisco.
The fatigue is showing at this late night fuel stop.