Santa Barbara

We decided to take a trip back to SB for J's bday to visit the old stomping grounds, and eat at our favorite places from the good ol' college days. Lot of familiar sites and buildings, but a lot has also changed since 2004. We got in and headed to the waterfront to eat at Brophy Bros on the harbor.



J had the crab cakes, I had the fish n chips. Not bad but nothing special.


After lunch we headed onto campus to check out the UCEN, bookstore, arbor and walk around a bit. Nicoletti's is still there, where my bro used to work while attending UCSB. The hub also has a Wahoo's and replaced Wendy's with some other fresh sandwich place.



Walked around the arbor to see the hot dog cart closing up for the day. Noticed that they now have a Woodstock pizza window so I had to order a slice. Good and greasy just like I remember.

Headed out to campus point to snap some seascapes but the sky was pretty clear and not very dramatic. I snapped a few anyway:



We headed back into Isla Vista for dinner at Freebirds. J has to have her Freebirds nachos fix once a year at least and not the crap nachos that are served up in the Freebirds popping up all over.

The next morning I got up for sunrise hoping for a better sky, but it was as clear as the night before. I snapped a few long exposure shots with my ND filter. Tide was high so I was a bit limited to where I could stand without getting wet.



Breakfast was at Cantina, best bfast burrito in town which is now served all day....they even have a sign stating the fact now haha. I don't know what it is about the burrito, but it's so damn good.



After breakfast we headed out to state street to do some shopping and walking around. We stopped by Norton's for lunch because we saw it on triple D.



Mom's PLT - with crispy pastrami that mimics bacon. Sandwich was good, a bit salty but very tasty.

Pastrami chili cheese fries...not the best I've had but decent.

After a bit of walking around we headed back to campus point to snap a few more pics. Same cloudless sky, but at least we had great weather all weekend.



We even saw a sea lion on the rocks. J named it Joey.

By this time we ate so much we weren't all that hungry, but we had dinner reservations at Olio Pizzeria so we headed back downtown.



Ended up getting the margherita d.o.c.: fresh bufala mozzarella / san marzano tomato sauce / parmesan / basil / e.v.o.o. and the carbonara: mascarpone / pecorino / guanciale / egg. If we ever go back I want to try the parma: fresh mozzarella / prosciutto di parma / arugula /scaglie di parmiggiano.

Overall, the pizzas were good. Not as crispy and thin as we like, but tasty and the dough had a nice chew and flavor. Ended the night watching Snitch at the theatres. Next morning we packed up to head back home, stopping by the Camarillo outlets but not before getting another one for the road:



J fed me while I was driving, but I think she probably ate most of it...haha. We had a good time, it was a nice relaxing trip to visit some of the places we miss the most.

Next up is Mammoth Lakes in March. Hopefully the weather will cooperate, so I can heard out to Convict, Mono, and June lake to snap a few photos with the snow covered mountains.


Brandon Yoshizawa
B.A.Y | photography
Landscape and Wildlife photography
www.bay-photography.com