[ChrisLA]

My girlfriend and I decided to take one last trip before she goes back to school (high school english teacher). It was only a day trip, and I wanted her to experience the joy of riding the train from LA to Santa Barbara. Its my understanding that coastal route from LA to Seattle is considered the most scenic of all the routes in the USA. Unfortunetly this time around we only experience about a 100 miles of the trip.

Note: the photos before we reached Santa Barbara are from the train through tinted glass, and a fast moving train. Please forgive the glare, and fuzzy photos.


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Finally arrived in Santa Barbara after 2 1/2 hours
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I hope you enjoyed the trip.

[Top Of The Park]

totally lovely scenery...its no wonder so many people want to live out there

[peanut gallery]

Very nice. Always love some Santa Barbara eye candy.

[theWatusi]

sweet

[dugdogmaster]

Rockin:cheers:

[Texas Tuff]

Great tour! Santa Barbara is absolutely the most beautiful city in Southern California. :yes:

[10101000]

Very nice! I liked it.

[LAsam]

I love Santa Barbara! Didn't get to go out to the wine country on this trip? It's amazing how green it stays in SoCal when we don't get any rain for months on end.

[ChrisLA]

I love Santa Barbara! Didn't get to go out to the wine country on this trip? It's amazing how green it stays in SoCal when we don't get any rain for months on end.

No not this time around, sorry.

I wouldn't say its all that green, but I'm thinking the moisture from the marine layer and the drew may have a hand in this. Although there isn't much rain during the summer months, perhaps the coast has alot to due with it. :shrug: Plus I'm sure many of the lawns, and parks have sprinkler systems to keep them green. Also some of the trees planted here can live for several months without water. On tree in particular is the popular Eucalyptus we see all so ofen in these neck of the woods. They are also quite popular in the central valley where its much hotter and drier in the summer, than the coastal cities.

[ChrisLA]

Regarding the Eucalyptus tree in California, there has been some critics. I posted a link to an article if anyone is interested

http://magazine.audubon.org/incite/incite0201.html


Some more information on the Eucalyptus:


Source: http://www.library.csustan.edu/bsantos/section2.htm#DROUGHT


CLIMATE

For most eucalyptus species mild climate is the best where there are warm summers, temperate winters, moderate rainfall, dry atmosphere, and plenty of sunlight. Temperature tolerance ranges generally between 15 to 100 degrees F. Quick changes in temperatures, however, are stressful for the eucalyptus especially in the weaker trees. Occasional storms with heavy rainfall are better than frequent rain because sunlight is important for growth as well as moisture.129

The eucalyptus grows best along the coast of central and southern California which is substantiated by observing the lush healthy groves and forests found in those areas. An outline of the eucalyptus growing region can be seen be locating the frostline on a California map. Frost-tolerance varies from species to species. For example, blue and sugar gums are damaged when temperatures dip below 26 degrees F. while manna and gray gum can withstand colder temperatures to 22 degrees F. Seedlings many times are killed by extremes in temperatures because of their small size and fragile nature.130 Humidity is important to some species especially the blue gum which does quite well in coastal fogs.131 As a rule of thumb, most eucalyptus species will be successful wherever citrus and olive trees are successful as they essentially require the same climatic mix of moisture and warmth.132


DROUGHT

Drought in recent years has made Californians more conscience of water conservation especially in regard to plant life. Some eucalyptus species have proven to be drought resistant. In the 1917, there was a drought in California where temperatures hovered between 110 and 120 degrees F. It was found that the foliage on most eucalyptus trees burned with the amount of tree damage being dependent upon type of soil and wind. Trees in loamy soil did better than those on sandy soil because it contained more moisture. A survey was done concerning the number of trees killed by the 1917 drought. It was found that of 2,885 blue gum trees examined only 9 died. The red gum did even better in that only 10 trees died out of 4,461.133

[stepper77]

Beautiful city! I drove down 101 on my trip to LA this summer and we were going to stop in Santa Barbara. But, the traffic was a nightmare and it was already getting late in the day. Thanks for letting us come along your day there!

[SLO]

Nice shots. SB is a fantastic town, for those who can afford to live there. For the rest of us, its a great weekend visit....

Nice info on the eucalyptus trees, having left Ca, when I come home I always love to see them and smell the aroma of those trees.
There is a magnificent grove in Los Osos, Ca that is stunning. While the eucalyptus is found all over the state it is not native to California, it was transplanted from Austrualia. Well anyway, there was a movement by an environmental group to remove this amazing eucalyptus grove and replace it with native vegetation, luckily they were thwarted....

[Dan Denson]

Nice to see photos of one of my favorite cities. Haven't been there since 1985. It was beautiful then, but the quietest city I'd ever experienced. After about 9:00 p.m., there was no one out. I can see from the photos that it's changed a lot. I've heard from others that there's a lot going on at night and lots of events, especially on weekends.

[dktshb]

Those are some spectacular photos. You really captured the beauty of the city.

What a relaxing way to get to Santa Barbara from LA. You can just chill and enjoy the scenery. Hopefully the trains will be up and running again soon. It is tragic to hear about the collision of the metrolink with the freight train in Chatsworth.

[ColDayMan]

Ya'll had some fun, I see.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Where is the Arlington West Memorial at the pier? When I was there last summer, there was a big area with white crosses, just like there used to be in Santa Monica.

[plinko]

Familiarity!

I live 4 blocks up this street:
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Always nice to see an outsider's perspective (though I've lived here 5+ years and still feel like a tourist sometimes)

BTW, the Arlington West down on the beach is something they do every Sunday.

[WesternGulf]

Nice photos. The downtown area sort of reminds me of Palo Alto and the rest looks like Monterey.

[NYC4Life]

What a beautiful coastal city.

[Westsidelife]

Nice tour. Santa Barbara is quite lovely. I consider it the Carmel of SoCal.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Gorgeous town and photos, Chris! :tup:

[OhioGuy]

Great photos. It's always good to see photos of beautiful Santa Barbara.

[ltsmotorsport]

I only live an hour or so away and haven't been there in more than a year. :no:

Thanks for this pics.

[ChrisLA]

Thanks again for the comments. :)

BTW the those photos on the way to Santa Barbara. It was on the same exact route of the Metrolink disaster that happened a couple weeks ago. Kind of scary when I think about it. Amtrak, Metrolink and freight trains share these tracks, and in fact we had to pause for several minutes to wait for a train passing the opposite direction.