We drove to Santa Barbara to visit our children and see friends on Wednesday. It was surprising still (June 21st) Summer Solstice which was Wednesday that the trees were so green, especially all the oaks and bushes and all trees heading south on 101. It's true a lot of the 3 to 5 foot high bushes like wild mustard and wild oats and such were often beige colored like they often are this time of year. But, because there is still periodically rain falling different places in the State of California where they mowed the wild grasses often it is still green up to 1 foot high where they cut the grasses off. Normally, wild grasses would have been dead by April to May and never be alive here in June at all. So, it shows what little rain can do down 101 From San Francisco all the way to San Diego and maybe even into Baja California in Northern Mexico.
Thursday, June 22, 2023
Drove to Santa Barbara
Sunday, March 26, 2023
Drove South to Santa Barbara
It was amazing driving south to Santa Barbara in that I noticed snow in the mountains still near Atascadero and Paso Robles just before I dropped down into San Luis Obispo and drove by Pismo Beach and on south to Santa Barbara. A very green and pleasant drive after all the rain but I was still surprised by the river damage in places like King City where trees have been washed away a lot in the riverbed and a whole golf Course there was overrun with flooding waters of the Salinas River as well.
Monday, February 20, 2023
Drove to Santa Barbara on Sunday
What was amazing about this drive is I hadn't done it before the flooding in January. So, many things had changed since I drove down Highway 101 the last time to Santa Barbara. The biggest things that stood out to me is near King City I realized that all the trees in the river had been either knocked down or all the leaves and most of the branches were gone because of the flooding. Also, the river at King City as you cross that bridge just before you reach the city stayed intact but the river wash is much wider like maybe several blocks wide from where it was. There is now (after the floods) basically a many homeless encampments wherever people could build high enough above the water that is still flowing down the Salinas River. I also noticed that as I began to get to Paso Robles that places like San Miguel that the oaks and other trees that grown near rivers had lost many of their branches and all of their leaves from the flooding too.
Next, it was more green likely than any time I have seen it since the 1990s basically. In other words this flooding rain wiped out the drought (at least for now). And we are supposed to get more rain in California through out the state during the next few weeks too. But, it's not supposed to be atmospheric rivers which flooded everyone out that got flooded out between late December throughout most of January 2023 this year.
Beautiful drive down but I started to notice a haze around San Luis Obispo and I wondered whether it was from a fire or it was just smog that had built up around Los Angeles and drifted north or what. It also could just be people too poor to pay for electric or gas heating and gathering driftwood from the Salinas River and burning that to stay warm a lot too. It's hard to say for sure but I didn't see any fires to create the haze that were out of control. I wouldn't think after all the wet that a good fire could get going enough for the fire departments not to be able to put it out quickly under these conditions anyway.
Beautiful green hills a lot of the way to make you think almost some places you were in a really rainy place like England or Scotland or something as you drove along and many weeds growing up in the median like Wild Mustard up to 3 to 4 feet high which you don't get unless there has been a lot of consistent rain either here in California. So, Amazing drive south in many ways to Santa Barbara this time.
Saturday, September 17, 2022
Drove South to Santa Barbara yesterday
I haven't left the SF Bay Area since we took our 6 week drive north as far a Banff and Lake Louise in Canada. I realized that it likely damaged my health because of all the high altitudes on this last trip which was difficult to process at the very least. Partly as a result I spent 3 days in the hospital with a cardioversion likely as a direct result. But, psychologically going to Tetons, Yellowstone, and Glacier national Park and Banff and Lake Louise was a fitting end for the hell we all went through with Covid for two years time. So, psychologically at least I needed this trip even though I fell in the Tetons and had to get 20 stitches in my left shin. But, the good thing about one's shin is there are no tendons there at all so even though this wound was to the bone it didn't affect my walking ability long term and even the scar is not that noticeable now even. So, in the long run because it didn't get infected traveling it was all survivable.
So, traveling south to Santa Barbara and my doctor saying it's okay for me to travel to Santa Barbara and Mt. Shasta now as long as I don't overdo is quite a boon to my wife and I in that we could go to do something different for awhile.
As we drove south on 101 towards Santa Barbara (note:) though you can drive down Interstate 5 to Santa Barbara it is kind of awkward and usually much hotter to take that route and then you have to go towards the ocean usually at Highway 46 towards Paso Robles to connect with Highway 101 anyway to make it be practical).
So, for us we usually just drive down 101 as it is a prettier drive and somewhat cooler usually and because I like the parts of the drive that take you near the ocean at Pismo Beach and then just below Buellton as well on 101.
I found the air a little hazy but I was still able to see 25 to 50 miles through the haze. It was also pretty dry most places even though there is still a little water in the Salinas River I noticed as we got off the 101 in King City to buy some food there. So, even having a little water is better than none at all this time of year.
Also, this rainstorm that is supposed to hit this weekend from Alaska into the San Francisco Area might help some too. I think it's a part of the Cyclone hitting Alaska right now that ventured down this far.
We might be getting more of these Freezing cold Cyclones that they talk about in "The Day After Tomorrow(2004) the movie for example. This could be what is happening. They are the opposite of a Tropical Cyclone.
Thursday, July 14, 2022
Made it to Santa Barbara
When I returned to my SF Bay Area Home it felt empty and devoid of the previous life I had lived there. Of course it also must be said also that this was the house my wife and I retreated to for 2 years through the lost Covid Years that everyone on earth experienced too. So, traveling north to the Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier and Banff and Lake Louise for 5 weeks time really blew out all the old cobwebs of the Covid era for better or for worse (usually both).
But, when I returned to a family home in Santa Barbara I felt welcomed by the Santa Barbara family home and this lifted up my spirits some.
But, returning south was also very sobering because it is very dry between the SF Bay area and Santa Barbara too with historic droughts all along the way. The one thing good along the coast is that the extreme heat inland is causing fog and drizzle to fall all along the coast at times which is keeping the coastal Redwoods and Oaks and Monterey Pines alive along with the bracken ferns common to the northern coast of California in the pine and oak and redwood forests.
So, it's very dry everywhere inland (more than 10 or 20 miles) that you go now because not enough rain fell from January to April or May to keep everything alive inland. So, this is why they are having a hard time keeping the Giant Sequoias alive this year from the Washburn fire in Yosemite National Park.
I woke up this morning to a sunny bright and cheery day after fog through the night here. High Fog was here which is good because low fog ends visibility for driving. So, the fog burned off I guess when the sun came up which is great!
Paso Robles heading south on 101 is the hottest weather we have seen so far on this trip south:
