We checked out of our cottage around 9:30 a.m. We had such a great time these past three days that we were sad to leave and dread to return to reality.

We decided to have one final randevú with Santa Barbara before saying goodbye to the town. We drove to Montecito Beach and had a brief stroll, before touring the historic Old Mission Santa Barbara. We know Dave would appreciate a bit of the history from the museum, so here is an extremely abridged version:

Mission Santa Barbara was the 10th of the California missions to be established by the Spanish Franciscans. Padre Junipero Serra, the founder of the previous 9 missions, had planned to establish the Santa Barbara Mission, unfortunately he died before he could see his vision come to fruition. The good news is the Padres didn’t give up. They eventually built the Mission in 1790s. There is a lot more interesting information, highly recommend you Google it. (Dave, we did get you a brochure.)

We were told that the best Mexican food in Santa Barbara was La Super-Rica. So we decided to check it out to see if the rumor was true. We weren’t the only ones with this idea because the line was very long (picture attached). We waited for an hour before we sat down and ate. The food was good but not exactly worth the wait. Half a yum yum. We will say that the best part was the homemade tortillas that they make right in front of you.