We started out the day here, at
Element Coffee, for the best coffee I've had in my entire life. Granted, I know almost nothing about coffee, but even I could tell that this was good stuff.
From there, we went to the train depot. These are the 5 Camarillo Stallions, which decorate the interior of the loading docks. We took the
Amtrack Surfliner, from Camarillo to Santa Barbara.
The train was quiet and comfy, and the seats had a lot more room than your average airline seats.
I tried to take pictures of the surf on the way to Santa Barbara, but none turned out. We rode right along the shorline for about half of the hour-long trip, and the scenery was gorgeous!
We got to Santa Barbara with plenty of time for a walking tour of
Stearns Wharf.
Note the hair- it was extremely humid (that's definitely my Summer Frizzies).
It was gorgeous anyway.
You can check out any time you like, yadda yadda. We ate lunch at the
Santa Barbara Brewing Company, which was excellent (I had fish and chips).
Then it was time to wander to
Loop & Leaf for my signing/ workshopettes.
Loop & Leaf is a lovely, small shop. I arrived about 15 minutes before the books did, but I would have enjoyed my 3 hours there, even with no books. Celeste and her staff are wonderful, and the knitters there are even moreso. I had a fantastic time, and I intend to take them up on their offer to come back and teach a full class!
Oh yeah- yarn. I bought yarn (the moratorium is off for appearances). This is
Araucania Miloden, and it's going to be heavy socks with a waffle pattern.
While I'm showing yarns off, I bought this
Rowan Colourscape Chunky at
Athena Fibers in Sioux Falls. It'll eventually be a mitered square hat. Lovely stuff, both yarns.
After the classes were over, we had several hours to kill before the return train, so we wandered some more, and did a beer tasting at Union Ale Brewing. I was especially taken with the Honey Blonde (that might not be exactly the right name- but it did have honey in the title).
After that we wandered a bit more, than hopped on the train for the hour-long trip back to Camarillo. It was a wonderful, exhausting day.
Today? It's raining. We're planning a quiet day, which suits me just fine.
