Santa Barbara and Simi Valley

A heavy warm fog awakened me. Sadie had eaten the leftover chicken legs overnight and thus had nothing for breakfast.

I drove back to the mission area for some photographs but the fog dimmed the lighting a bit. However, the fog was refreshing and I wanted to hike a bit with Sadie. First we walked around a small park just up from the mission, but later discovered the Cold Springs Trail off East Mountain View Drive. This tu

rned out to be a lush three-mile loop hike up and down a foggy mountainside. We couldn't see the ocean at all.

This is a popular trail, judging by the people I met early in the hike. One group of older hikers gave me a trailmap of the area that took me right to the trailhead. Although we had no oceanviews, I enjoyed this little trail as an excuse to get some exercise before hitting the highway again, this time fighting more traffic.

I stopped at a farmer's market where I bought three pints for $6 and practically ate half of it within an hour. We continued on toward Ventura, where, within five minutes, a parking cop came by to inspect the parking fees. I had only been walking five minutes, enough time to cross the street to see the mission and come back. These California parking cops are serious!

My next plan was to hit Simi Valley and perhaps see the Reagan library, but on my way there along USHwy101 I found a Barnes and Noble bookstore where I stopped to download the photos from yesterday's drive and this morning. Sadie seemed quite content to remain in the truck while I worked on the photographs.

By 1pm the fog finally began lifting.