Day 5

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Day 5:

We spent the night with Grandma Carole and Jenny. It was really nice to see them and get caught up on what happening in everyone’s lives. As far as our travel there is not a ton to say here. We got up early and had a delicious breakfast at Big Johns in Frazier Park then headed west. We stopped at the Ranger/Fire station to ask about road closures only to find that the major portion of our route was blocked by an obstinate property owner who had put his own locks on the forestry gates, and they couldn’t even open it. Our first section of trail down Quatal Canyon was lots of fun and since we new that we couldn’t take the later trail, we took our time and really enjoyed it. Some trail and lots of riverbed wash. After reaching the 33 we headed south. We took a spontaneous turn off at Cherry Canyon and tried to get through. Really a pretty place with lots of oaks color but eventually the trail was blocked in one way (say evil owner guy) and the other fork was too tight with heavy mesquite to pass, so we headed back out.

A short stop in Ojai, to talk to the rangers. It seems that all of the previous trails in the area are now shut to anything except mountain bikes and foot traffic. Its really too bad as there are lots of great paths winding through these mountains. So it was on to Santa Barbara for check in at our hotel. Its right on the beach and very nice. We took a long walk strolling up State St. doing a bit of shopping. We had dinner at Brophy Bros. WOW. We ate at the bar so that we didn’t have to wait for a table, what a good choice. One of the tenders was the “bar chef” and everything he was making smelled so good that we just ordered whatever it was he had on hand. Fish stew, fried calamari, sourdough bread. Mmmmmm (we are going back tomarrow!)

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