Another Car Show, Another Road Trip

 This time it was a quickie up to Santa Barbara for a show benefiting the Community Hot Rod Project https://www.thecommunityhotrodproject.com. A great idea to educate young people in the art of building hot rods, kustoms, and car restoration. It's important for the education system to realize that not EVERYONE has to be a rocket scientist. 

The show was on a Sunday, and we decieded to not get up at the usual O'Dark-Thirty and instead booked a room at the Rose Garden Inn on State St. in Santa Barbara. https://www.rosegardeninnsantabarbara.com Constant Reader may, by sifting through the remnants of their memories, remember when my buddy Bill Morgan walked the Missons. He'd gotten to Solvang and tweaked his back, made it to SB and I picked him up at this self-same motel to take him to Monrovia and some needed R&R and a trip to Dr. George, the friendly Car Guy chiropracter. 

Anywho, this is a nice motel and next door are some key eateries. First is the Tee Off. An old school bar that serves REALLY GOOD prime rib at a resonable price (we ate there several years ago and it is good!)--Bill discovered it when he holed up at the Rose Garden. https://www.teeoffsb.com 

We opted for Sun Sushi instead and had a good meal, including a massive bowl of green tea ice cream.  https://www.sbsunsushi.com

For once, we left at a "normal" time and picked up sandwiches at (of course) Claro's in Arcadia. https://claros.com Who needs Subway or others of their ilk when you can get the REAL DEAL at a place that's family owned since 1948? Place is older than I am! 

We took the usual route up the 210 and across the 118 to Kraproom, and for only the second time in HOW many years we've been driving to the Coast, got to stop at the Somis Nut House https://somisnuthouse.com. And yes, they DID let us out. Peanut Brittle, chocolate covered pretzels, and deep fried garlic cloves!! Again, constant reader may remember that we found these at the Garlic Shoppe in Gilroy last summer! SO GOOD! 

From there it was Carpinteria for lunch at (of course) The Spot in Carpinteria, a place I've been going to since it opened when I was a kid camping with the family on Easter Break.  https://www.facebook.com/TheSpotCarpinteria 

We had time to kill as we couldn't get into the motel until 4:00, so we avoided the construction on the 101 and headed up the 192 through Montecito, then to the Santa Barbara Mission. 

Lots of memories there. Meaghan built it as her 4th Grade Mission project and we stayed not far away at the swanky El Encanto Hotel on our honeymoon. We still have flashbacks of the maid catching us doing what honeymooning couples do as soon as they get into their hotel room! eeew

From there it was to the motel and eventually dinner. 

Next moring it was up and over to the donut shop next to the motel that opens at 5AM! Good, proper donuts and a massive ham/egg/cheese croissant.  http://spudnutsdonutssb.com

So, thence to the car show. Poor guys running it. TEN days before the show, the got word that UCSB had, despite having a contract, decided that they didn't want the show there. The organizers scrambled and found SBCC and a GREAT grassy area overlooking the beach, right on the cliff! BEAUTIFUL place. 

No, we didn't win any awards this time, but put smiles on lots of faces, met neat people (including a guy from Paris who wants to meet up with us next summer when we head to France to celebrate Marianne's 70th, my 75th, and our 45th). 

Great mix of cars and some REALLY unusual stuff. Surprisingly, not the usual horde of plastic Deuces and Tri-5 Chevies. 

This imaculant Bug won the class we were in. I'm not surprised. 

A TURBO MONZA! 

THIS was the neatest car there. Didn't get to talk to the owner, so I have no info, but it's SPECTACULAR Lancia! 

The OTHER Low Rider! 

They fired this puppy up. They probably heard in on the Channel Islands! 

Yes, that's GREEN! 

And my (patent pending) Big Umbrella Stabilizer worked a treat! The wind go gusty on the top of the bluff, yet no problems! 

The show was over about 3:30 and our plan was to wait out the traffic. Constant Reader and ALL Road Tripper's will know that heading back to LA from SB on a Sunday at 3 means HORRIBLE traffic, especially with the construction on the 101 now creeping through Montecito/Summerland. 

Much to our shock and surprise, it was WIDE OPEN ALL THE WAY TO PASADENA!! It was as if it was Stupid Bowel Sunday! AMAZING! No, not a 3 day weekend, but...AHA! School was starting for most kids the next day. Instead of getting away, families were fighting over that their kids wanted to wear to school and all the teachers were hiding in their attics, not wanting to go back! 

So, a pleasant couple of days, an escape from the Monrovia heat, great cars, and great people. Who would want more?