So, after leaving SLO early Monday morning, Jocko and I headed south with our sights set on Santa Barbara... Our one little detour along the way was a small Scandanavian town called Slovang... It was a quaint little village just off 101 (we took the highway foe this part of the ride... As recommended by all the locals)... With little Scandanavian fasades and Danish bakes shops, we had a lovely time! One of the best parts was that one of the stores had a whole isle dedicated to dachshund memorabilia!!! It was hilarious!!

Just south of Slovang, we pulled into Santa Barbara just in time for lunch. I was able to redeem myself after choosing the place the night before (I chose Nova, the first night in SLO, which was amazing... So Jocko wanted me to choose again... But the night of the 4th, we had a B- dinner... So this was my chance to redeem my restraint choosing abilities). My choice was the runner up for Best of Santa Barbaras American cuisine. It was a STELLAR choice!! A relatively new place, named after the womans mother... And daughter... I had a serloin sandwich on ciabatta... Roasted reds and a marvelously cool sauce. Jocko got a great spicy burger with avocados and the best bun he's ever had!

As we finished our meal, and asked the owner what we needed to see while we were in town, and she responded "Our coconut cake".. When we explained that we were full and that Jocko doesn't like coconut... She felt challenged... And pushed and pushed... But we asked for the check... And with it came (yet another wonderfully generous) free piece of her famous coconut cake... She said she wanted to win Jocko over, cause she know she could convert him... AND SHE DID!!!! We both LOVED it!! But Jocko especially :) She was so proud to tell us that Oprah had come in and liked it so much that she bought a whole cake!! In addition, it had won some local awards for best dessert! It really was!!



After lunch, we strolled around, and stopped by the city courthouse... Which is the pride and joy of Santa Barbara. Built in 1929, it is one of the oldest buildings in the city and has lot of beautiful latino artwork... However, while on the tour, we realizes that our hous is about 80 years older than the oldest building in their town... Kind of crazy, huh? Adfter a short tour of the building, went down to the pier and found our way into a snooty wine tasting room... Where we met two nice guys who recommended another wine tasting room around the corner... This next place was called Municipal Wine Makers... Where the owner had a masters degree in wine... And was the quintacential Californian Dude.. Wicked Good!!! We spent a lot of time there... Had a lot of wine... And bought even more (even though NO ONE will ship to Mass due to tax-a-chusetts laws... Figures... We learned about each wine we tasted by following along on iPads... Very cool... And the owner gave us an idea for for a business plan to make it work back home.. (I'm really ready to quit selling drugs and move onto wine... Loving the idea!!! Just not sure it'll pay the same... And I know the cars not included..)

After Municipal... We staggered our way back up the hill to State St... and found one more nice tasting room and stopped by... Needless to say, we were pretty well lit!! We had a lot of fun and met some pretty great people... One of our most fun evenings in Cali!

Dinner was short and a bit rushed... But also our cheapest since we've been here... The Palace specializes in creol food and we had a couple different appetizers... Jocko had a knock your sox off turkey gumbo... And I had a great coconut shrimp plate... All under $30!!