On the way back from Bacara we decided to finish out our tour of 5 star hotels in the Santa Barbara area by stopping by the El Encanto for a drink and bite to eat. The hotel is up in the hills and the terrace has a great view of Santa Barbara. They are also very dog friendly and brought him a big bowl of water which he went through quickly.
It was time for a change in scenery so we decided to take a little ride up to Bacara in Goleta which is just north of Santa Barbara. It is a little hike from the parking lot to the beach but Luce knew the way.
After the trail ends, we go to the right to get to the beach
Then into the water to cool off.
Then a quick shake off.
Now he is happy and we can continue down the beach to see what kind of trouble we can get into.
After some time on the beach, we headed over to the hotel to wander around a little. Luce decided to find a shady spot across from the restaurant. I think he was staring down a party of 4 that just got their meal.
We took a road trip south into Ventura County and ended up at the Ojai Valley Inn in of all places, Ojai Valley. For those of you not from around here it is pronounced like Oh, Hi. We wandered around for a little while then had a great lunch in the outdoor restaurant. They are very dog friendly and brought Luce a bowl of fresh water with some ice cubes. He was a perfect gentleman.
What is a big furry dog to do after a getting a clean and tidy, well, obviously get all wet and sandy. The stick had 2 purposes as first, Luce likes to run after it as you may know but second, and more importantly, it was good to have in case the aggressive Rhodesian Ridgeback, Golden Retriever, and/or Great Dane came back for another piece of Luce. Fortunately those 3 incidents all came out OK but Luce definitely was a little apprehensive afterward.
