Rancho Oso, Santa Barbara, CA

Words cannot describe how beautiful it is here. This has always been our favorite TT park. The setting, the amenities, the many hiking trails, places to ride bike plus horseback riding. I am awestruck each day anew by the mountain vistas that greet me each day.

This is a working ranch that boards horses, has riding camps, long horn cattle and rodeos. What's not to like, my kind of place.

This is the view in the campground.

You can see our jeep by our camper. What a view to wake up to.

Camping groups come in and sleep the kids in the covered wagons.

Isn't this just such a cool scene?

Each morning Nicky and I take off for a long hike.  This is one of the pretty scenes along the way.

This is Nicky who is entirely obsessed with the gofers here. That's all he wants to do is chase them.

This is Nicky curled up in his new Christmas blanket and pillow.

These are the Los Padres mountains around Santa Barbara -- aren't they beautiful?

This is Lake Cuchuma it is about 1/3 the size it was 4 years ago.

This area is called western land and the riding groups often camp and stay in the little cabins in this area.

Every Saturday here in the park is a free rodeo.

We did explore downtown Santa Barbara and the beach but the majority of our time was spent hiking, biking, horseback riding and visiting the Slavick villages of the Santa Ynez Valley.

This is the village of Solvang located in the Santa Ynez Valley. It is a Danish village and was voted the #2 place to visit Europe without leaving the United States.

This is the village of Los Alamos it resembles a small western town. This town is also located in the Santa Inez valley.

This is the village of Los Olivos located in Santa Inez Valley.  This village is known for its wine tasting rooms. Also a lot of olive oil and balsamic.  I got a coconut balsamic that is to die for.

We love this area as you can tell.  There is so much to see and do here. My next blog will be about our visit with our daughter and grandsons.  That was indeed the highlight of our trip. Seeing them has been wonderful. We all had such a good time.
Happy trails to everyone.