Earl Warren Showgrounds - Santa Barbara, California - August 12, 2021

Earl Warren Showgrounds - Santa Barbara, California - August 12, 2021

We arrived in Santa Barbara … a bit of a round about route in an effort to avoid the dense traffic corridors of Southern California.  Unfortunately, I did not look at the directions carefully on the reservation confirmation and we had a bit of difficulty locating the actual RV campground area on the Earl Warren Showgrounds, but with a bit of turning around and exploring, we found the campground area.  To further complicate matters, I did not look closely at our reservation to see that we were assigned campsite #21.  When the camp host greeted us, she looked quickly at our reservation and said that we were in campsite #22.  I took her word and we ended up in the wrong campsite.  That story line develops on the next day …

We got Bambi situated, only to realize that even though we were basically camping on asphalt in a parking lot, it was not level.  So work ensued to try to level the camper … that was when I discovered the dead rat (which had Coco’s interest … sigh).   The campsite was also infected by ants which managed to find their way into our trailer … a few initially, an infestation a day later … had to treat the trailer with ant suppressants.  The “pet run” was a dirt strip beside the road.  

We began to walk Coco around the Earl Warren Showgrounds … there was a large stable area for horses and corrals, arenas for rodeo events.  In the conference buildings was a Gem Faire (yes, that is how it was spelled), so a lot of traffic on the grounds for vendors and attendees of the gem shop.  

I think that I have painted the picture of the inadequacy of this campground location … it’s sole advantage was that it was right in Santa Barbara, only minutes from the home of KC and Hilary, Paul’s cousin and his wife, who we came to Santa Barbara to see.

We drove over to KC and Hilary’s home where their daughter, Lauren, was living with them and we met Lauren’s new baby boy, Koda, three months (and one week) old.  He is one of the cutest babies that we have ever seen and had many loving hands to tend to his care.  Including Hilary’s twin sister, Linda, who is also staying with them while she recovers from her knee replacement surgery.  They hosted us to a wonderful barbecue, complete with Santa Maria-style barbecued tri-tip, potatoes au gratin, roasted asparagus topped off with ice cream and cookies.  It was a totally delicious end to a long day of travel.  

And, a pleasant surprise for these “desert rats” to be shivering cold at the end of night, needing jackets, and the portable outdoor patio heater to enjoy the outdoor patio life of life in Santa Barbara.  

Alas, the photographer was so busy with all of events that we have no pictures to accompany this story :-(