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Friday Slide Show: La Mesa Park
6 March 2020
If you get off 101 at Las Positas in Santa Barbara and drive toward the coast, you'll find an intersection where a right turn takes you along La Mesa Park. That route also takes us to our brother's house on the Mesa, a block away from the park, where we spent a few days last week.
After nearly six hours piloting our 20-year-old Honda down 101, we appreciated the opportunity to stand upright and walk over to the park to take a short stroll before sunset. It was so beautiful that the next morning we went back with the camera to capture that spectacular ocean view with the Channel Islands in the distance.
It's such a gorgeous place you really can't take a bad photo of it. But it does push your camera to its limits. And we found the Dehaze tool very helpful in bringing back the southern California colors that slipped through our sensor.
It is hard not to believe you are a kid again and all is right with the world as you stroll along these cliffs.
The park itself has a playground and picnic tables. The main attractions (apart from the view) are the long paved walkways that cut through the lawn that runs along the roadway.
On our first visit we saw a young coach on the grass trying to impress upon his very young football team the ins-and-outs of pass routes. They, of course, weren't paying any attention whatsoever. He tried raising his voice and repeating his commands but the kids were there to play not study.
The next morning, we were accosted with good-mornings! and beautiful-days! whenever we happen to pass a fellow human being. We decided the best thing to do would be to smile and nod and exchange a similar greeting. It seemed to make the sun shine brighter. And a little warmer, too.
There is a marvelous wooden staircase that leads down the cliff to the beach below. We saw a young family playing in the surf and sand, their towels and sandals stored on a landing of the stairway.
At the end of the walk, your reward is Santa Barbara harbor sprawled out before you as surfers dance on the waves at the end of the cliffs where the beach widens in front of Santa Barbara City College.
It is hard not to believe you are a kid again and all is right with the world as you stroll along these cliffs.
As we walked back, we were passed by two senior ladies one of whom couldn't help exclaiming, "Maggie, we could be doing this for another 30 years ... at least!"
We wouldn't mind joining them.
