Santa Barbara, CA - Rancho Oso

We’re staying in a pretty unique campground here in Santa Barbara. Well, actually, we’re about 23 miles north of SB up through the San Marcos Pass, down into the valley, onto a narrower road along side the Santa Ynez River then up a 1 1/2 lane road around curves so tight that they need mirrors so you can see what’s coming at you. Then down into this bucolic valley with horses grazing, kids playing and the sun shining brightly on the hills on the other side of the river.

Originally, as was true throughout the West, Native Americans lived in this area. The Chumash, who might have numbered more than 20,000 when they lived in the area, were hunter-gatherers and rotated between the river and the ocean to find what they needed to live. When the Spanish came, they brought with them diseases which the Chumash had no resistance to and many succumbed.

Over time, several people claimed this land but homesteaders slowly but surely moved in and became the owners. Then in 1911 Edward W Alexander, who represented Ford Motor Company in the SB area, bought a good part of this land, got a deed from the US Government and began to build on the land. He built a Stone Lodge which he used as a hunting lodge and as a weekend retreat. (Note the sandbags, we’ve had about 6” of rain in the last 2 days and there is running water in many places.)

His original deed still exists and is framed in one of the buildings on the ranch. He had many guests, such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton visit him here. The fireplace in the Stone Lodge has some etchings around the mantle done by Edward Borein. ‘Borein jokingly said he would paint the mantle in payment for the beef he consumed... and claiming that his slow progress would assure him of good beef on future visits.’ (from Laurie Spaulding Russell's 4-page history of Rancho Oso.

When Alexander died the land passed through many other hands until it landed in the hands of Bob Jamison, who turned it into a guest ranch with horses and trail rides and added an RV park. There are pastures for the horses.

Here are some ‘cabins’ you can rent if you want something a bit more elaborate than tent camping.

The history of Rancho Oso is a much longer saga that I’ve related here but suffice it to say, it has had many owners before Thousand Trails bought it in 1986. We certainly have enjoyed our stay here though, I’ll have to admit, we didn’t have time to explore it all. They serve breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, they have a steak or tri-tip dinner on Saturday and spaghetti on Friday. They give trail rides, they have ‘stagecoaches for you to stay in - they even have a teepee to stay in, and, ss I mentioned in a previous blog, we did force ourselves to make it to the Sunday Ice Cream Social. Note how I am dresses - it’s not all sunshine and warm weather here in CA. Oh yeah, one of those ices creams is Gary’s.

We chose this campground because it is within driving distance to visit Santa Barbara with its museums and attractiona, Solvang with its Danish heritage and those bakeries, got decent reviews on the RV campground review web site (I always check this), and has some accessible hiking.

Several days ago, we traveled a road along the ridgeline of the mountains above the resort and happened to see the campground from above. When I zoon in, I can only see the mat outside our door since a nearby ridge and a tree are in the way. But in this wide frame picture, you can at least get an idea of the setting. The campground is the light colorer section in the middle of the picture, with the burned out brown hills in back and the pristine green shrubs in front.

Santa Barbara, CA - Looking for the Ark

If you’re wondering about the tenses of several of the verbs in the last few blogs, that’s because we have not had phone service nor wi-fi for several days now. Thus, I’ve written several blogs on the actual day but we haven’t been able to publish them until we get into town where there is reliable wi-fi. We are in a campground north of Santa Barbara, CA. It is about 6 miles down a canyon in a beautiful valley which used to be a horse ranch. We have views like this view out of our front window. There was a fire on these hills several years ago and thus there is very little vegetation. But, the hills glow in the evening sun.

However, as most of your know, California is in the throws of a serious drought. LA had only 3” of rain last year whereas it usually has over 14”. This year began as last year had ended with sunshine, heat and a cloudless sky. However, today, all of a sudden the skies opened up and we’ve had rain for the last few days. (LA had 3.5” in just the last two days.) Not just a rain but a downpour. Actually, yesterday we did have a few breaks in the rain but today the rain began about midnight, continued all morning and did not ‘calm down’ until about 4 pm. Actually ‘calm down’ means just a steady light rain, not a misting, not a drizzle but a light rain. Below is the view out of our front window today. What happened to those beautiful buff colored hills reflecting the setting sun?

The campground is on a terraced hill and each level is about 15’ above the one below. Last night Gary had nightmares about our RV sliding down the hill into the Santa Ynez River below, pulling the RV’s in front of us along with us. Me, I just hoped there was an Ark nearby.

There was a couple staying in the Citation RV right in front of us who began the process of leaving today in the heaviest of the downpour. She was holding the umbrella over him as he unhooked. Then they hooked up the dolly to the back of the RV, she drove the car and lined up in back of the dolly. Then they just sat there in the RV - for about 30 minutes. Finally, he drove off in the RV trailing the dolly and she drove off behind him in the car.

I just hope they’re ok out on the roads. Our neighbors on this level decided to stay another week rather than drive off in this rain to Palm Springs - which is also rainy.

We’ve been working around the RV for the last two days. I’ve worked on taxes, Gary’s worked on some paperwork he’s been wanting to scan so he can toss it. We might not have planned working in the RV for two days straight but we’ve enjoyed the break and the time to relax with some other tasks we need to get done.

We weren’t so busy that we couldn’t take a walk around the campground during one of the short lulls one day and to journey down to the Stone Lodge on the second day in the rain for hot fudge sundaes. I felt sorry that the activities team had put out this great treat and no one would come in the rain. So, Gary and I sacrificed and forced ourselves to have some hot fudge and caramel on ice cream with whipped cream, nuts and cherries on top. Actually we were not alone, 2 young couples came in with their 2 daughters each and joined us.

These are the kind of days when our RV begins to grow smaller and we get to test our 41 years of marriage. As I mentioned above, we also are somewhat off the grid here. Our cell phone has only 1 bar (and that’s on a good moment), we have no TV reception (although we can go down to the adult lodge and watch TV with the rest of the bored adults) and our wi-fi is almost non-existent. We DO have our Sirius and have been using it for our news source. Otherwise, it’s Big Gar and me.

Speaking of cell phones: my brother’s birthday is Feb 29 (yep, he’s a leap year baby) and we had planned to call him to sing Happy Birthday to him - our annual tradition. However, with the scanty cell phone coverage we have, we decided to call him the next time we’re in town. Then - out of the blue, we heard our phone ring. Sure enough, it was Jack. I apologized and explained why we had not called him. He was fine, he was just calling to thank us for the card and gift.

Tomorrow, we’ll be off exploring.