Flora & Fauna, Santa Barbara

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Freezing from San Francisco to Los Angeles, we had in Santa Barbara the best contact with sub-tropical weather and flora.

We didn't see any large garden or park (we only had a couple of hours to the beautiful city), but most streets show luxurious trees and flowers.

It is supposed to be the largest tree in the nation. Native to Australia and was planted in Santa Barbara in 1877. It is belieed that 10.000 people could stand in its shade at noon.. ( I have a hard time believing that ). In 1970 the measurements indicated a branch spread of 160 ft.

Unfortunately this is something that you cannot really plan, but just have to be in the right place at the right time. While living in SB, there were several occasions that I watched dolphins play out in the surf. One time I was right off of UCSB’s campus and there was a lone dolphin riding in the waves. As the waves were curling, he/she was basically body surfing. And another time I was eating at the Brown Pelican and there were 3 different pods (is that correct?) of dolphins that eventually all congregated in front of the restaurant. They spent the better part of a half hour playing around in the cove there. Awesome and fun stuff.

Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden - There is a monarch butterfly on the flowers, but he is almost camoflogued by the orange flowers.