We had an incredibly wonderful time in Santa Barbara celebrating the Old Spanish Days Fiesta!! There was never a dull moment throughout the weekend!! It was fantastic for Charlene and I to enjoy the time together with Elizabeth, Dennis, and Rachel!!We started out the weekend by enjoying flamenco dancers of all ages! These girls were excited to show me their festive dresses when I asked them if I could take their photo!
On the stage were all kinds of colorful dresses spinning and turning to the music!! It was so much fun to watch!Ladies getting ready to dance were excited to showcase their dresses!I really loved all the colors in these dresses. Flamenco dancing is serious business!!These colorfully dressed young girls were getting ready to go onstage and dance!!The Spanish colors were flying everywhere around Santa Barbara!!Charlene met a good friend she wanted to bring him home!!When you go to Santa Barbara, it is a requirement to taste their spectacular wines!! Here Rachel and I were enjoying a glass at our favorite wine tasting location!!Charlene and Elizabeth found this great dolphin as we were tasting wine for this special photo!!As we were enjoying our wine, this wonderful mariachi band stopped and played some great songs!! I simply love listening to their music and watching them play. There were a number of mariachi bands playing around the city!!I especially love this photo of Charlene and Elizabeth as we were enjoying our wine!!People celebrate Old Spanish Days by sprinkling confetti on each other!! We had such a wonderful time!!The following day, as we were waiting for the fiesta at Loquita restaurant to begin, these horses walked by to get ready to be in the parade.Loquita had an unbelievable fiesta!! There was unlimited sangria and all kinds of tapas plates of foods to enjoy! They gave us these festive flowers as we entered the restaurant!!This gentleman was carving a jamon (ham) to serve on the tapas plates. It was cooked to perfection!An especially wonderful treat for me was to see Rachel!! She is quite the impressive professional!!It was fun to learn about mezcal and try a number of shots! This is a great product and very smooth!!We especially enjoyed eating the paella!! It required quite a while for it to be prepared, but it was well worth the wait!! We received a ticket for the paella as we entered the fiesta and enjoying it was one of the highlights of the fiesta!!This couple was at the table next to us and I told the woman that I especially loved her hat!!In addition to the unlimited sangria, their bar was in operation for making various cocktails. It was such a fun fiesta!!While we were at the bar ordering drinks, I enjoyed talking with this woman. I especially liked both the confetti and the beautiful white flower in her hair!!These are the special negroni cocktails that Elizabeth ordered! They were a delight to drink!!Everyone was enjoying the fiesta celebration!!A special highlight of the fiesta at Loquita were the flamenco dancers!! It was incredibly fun to enjoy the music and watch the dancers!!It was amazing to watch the moves and grace of these two dancers!!Mother and daughter were impressively moving to the music too!!Brother and sister also had a wonderful time dancing together!! The Loquita fiesta was so much fun!!These wonderful ladies were dancing near us and it was wonderful to take their photo! Everyone had a great time Old Spanish Days!!
Today we went to the farmer’s market in Santa Barbara, California. I loved all the colors and shapes of the flowers, fruits, and vegetables!I enjoyed seeing all the colors!!The strawberries were wonderful!!Gorgeous flowers!!
I loved the light and textures with these flowers in the morning!!The sunflowers were bursting with color!!The vibrant colors were explosions of beauty!!Many sunflowers were available with different vendors!!
Rachel is the charcuterie queen!! She is talented to create gorgeous charcuterie boards! She includes a range of fruits, cheeses, meats, and breads. What was most impressive to me were the two flowers designed using a series of meat slices. Everything tasted wonderful!!
Rachel was superb in recommending and tasting wine. She was excellent in identifying and describing the tastes with different wines.There were many wonderful wines to try. These wines are some of the favorites where Elizabeth and Dennis are wine club members.Rachel graciously allowed me to photograph her next to this unique statue. Look closely and it can be seen that the limbs have joints and the arms can be moved. I have never before seen a statue there the arms were movable.I thought it would be quite interesting to share a bottle of wine with this gentleman. Children walking by enjoyed climbing on this dolphin for a ride.It is amazing how long ago Santa Barbara was an important community.The Spanish influence in Santa Barbara has existed for a very long time!!I loved the textures of this very tall, weathered wooden door!
Early this morning, Elizabeth and I went to the fish market!!“This spiney lobster, only found on the west coast. Unlike the east coast these spiney lobsters do not have claws. This guy was walking around the pool. I think it might have been saying “Pick me, pick me.”This rock crab was giving us “the eye.” These are native to the Santa Barbara area.This spiney creature is called “uni.” It is a spiney sea urchin. These friendly lady cracked the creature open, scooped out the “black stuff” and we ate the yellow slimy contents. It was weird because the still had movement as we were scooping out and eating the yellow sea food.Elizabeth was digging into breakfast.I was not quite sure what to think about eating the yellow contents that were quite slimy while there was movement of the creature in my hand.This is freshly caught vermilion rock fish caught near Santa Barbara. This guy is ready to be someone’s wonderful dinner.We almost bought this wonderful fish for dinner from this friendly guy.This is a wonderful sole.For a reasonable fee, this woman will clean and slice your freshly purchased fish.After going to the fish market, we drove to the Santa Barbara farmer’s market. It was amazing to see so many colorful and tasty fruits and vegetables!!The carrots were incredible!!I wanted to buy everything on this table!!I have never seen so many different types of carrots!!These oranges were especially flavorful!!This girl said I could take her photo with the peppers they were selling.These strings of dried flowers were amazing!!We bought this jar of honey!!These sugar snap peas tasted wonderful!!This is strangest plant I have ever seen. I have no idea what it tastes like.I absolutely love all the berries!!This is an oyster mushroom that can be used in sauces. It is excellent for dinner!!This is a trumpet mushroom. We ate some of these at dinner last night.These lavender flowers were so aromatic!! They made me feel peaceful!!This display of carrots was amazing!!I feel in love with all the citrus!!These strawberries were wonderful!!Bird of paradise are one of my favorite flowers!!
Fiesta on Wheels 