Homeward Bound... stops in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara

We had left Cabo San Lucas after thoroughly enjoying our time, albeit short, there. I could see spending a week or two in Cabo at some time in the future to explore all it has to offer. We sailed north toward California waters  with our destination being Los Angeles and then Santa Barbara before sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge and into San Francisco. Yup, sad to say, our twenty day cruise was coming to an end at a speed of 20 knots. Would that I could have slowed that down.

In Los Angeles we visited the USS Iowa museum which features, as you could guess, the now retired battleship Iowa which served our country from WWII through the Cold War. I'm writing this blog in Arizona as I work Spring Training baseball at Surprise Stadium. The stadium sits close to Luke Air Force Base and we are constantly being overflown with lots of fighter jets. They are incredibly loud but the locals tolerate the noise by saying that 'that's the sound of freedom'. Point taken. The shame, of course, as a species, is that we are so set on destroying each other that such sounds of freedom remain necessary to this day. Thus the existence of the Iowa. She features the largest guns (16" diameter) ever featured on a U.S. naval ship but also in her later years was capable of firing nuclear-tipped shells as well as launching cruise missiles. She could not only hurt you, but obliterate you.

From L.A. we sailed on to Santa Barbara for a lowkey visit that saw us strolling downtown and along Stearns Wharf. I also got a chance to visit the Santa Barbara Surf Shop. I don't know how to surf but am an avid windsurfer so felt a kindred spirit as I walked among the magical boards made to glide along the waves.

Here's a quick sampler of some of the sights from L.A. and Santa Barbara. Thanks for sailing along! We're already trying to figure out what our next adventure will be, Coronavirus be damned...