April 26, 2014

  • Easter Weekend 2014

    On Thursday, April 17, I drove to Santa Barbara for Easter weekend -- to avoid traffic, I returned on Wednesday, April 23, but then left again on Friday for an overnight trip to San Diego (more about that in the next post).  The welcome sign was out at my friend's home!
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    While in Santa Barbara, a day trip was in order to see the current status of the water supply, Lake Cachuma.

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    On that particular day, Easter Saturday, the lake held just over 74,000 acre feet of water, less than half its capacity, and less than two years worth of usable water!  A hawk soared over the lake -- the lake was stocked the previous weekend for a fishing competition, and there were still fish in the water.

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    The lake level is so low that this little canyon is no longer part of the lake!  The white line at lake level represents the decline since the last time I was there.

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    Looking back at the County Park, we could also see the decline since last time.

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    We noticed that one of the four spillway gates was open, perhaps to work on the mechanism that changes its position.

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    From the lake, we went on to Santa Ynez, a little town just outside of Solvang, where we had a delightful lunch.

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    Another day, we explored Santa Barbara, and found large numbers of wildflowers in a parking lot.

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    Both on the day I arrived in Santa Barbara and on the day I left, a week later, there was a Princess cruise ship anchored off the end of the wharf.  They anchor there, and bring the passengers in by tender for their day-long tours.

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    And, of course, there were local sailors out to see what the ship looked like.

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Comments (12)

  • The lake level is worrisome. Lovely photos nonetheless. I like the wildflower photo with the orange flowers - do you know what kind they are??

    • Thanks, Val. The City is now "negotiating the planning for reopening the desalination plant." Several issues have arisen, including the State Coastal Commission deciding that the original permit has expired, and a new permit must include subterranean extraction of the salt water, rather than a simple intake from the sea! The orange flowers are our State flower, the California Poppy!

  • Sure wonder how long the drought will continue ~ love the wildflowers ~ so beautiful ~

    • The City Fathers are beginning to recognize that they can't wait to find out how long the drought will continue -- they are working on the planning stages for the desal plant. The wildflowers were lovely in that spot -- and they're out all over, though not in such profusion.

  • I hope the water situation gets better, it's been in the red for too long.

    • They really have about 2 years of usable water left. Hopefully there will be active desalination by the time they run dry! And some good rain would be nice, too!

  • That s a big drop in the water level! Having grown up in South Jersey and then moving to the boondocks, you really appreciate having water because most people had wells, unless you were in the little town. When ours went dry once, we had to go to the town we used to live in, a 15 mile ride each way, and fill up new galvanized trash cans with water 3 times a week till they save enough money in 2 months to get a new well dug back then. I am always reminding hubby and daughter to take short showers so I now have them well trained. ;)

    • Santa Barbara is about to move to a stage 2 drought phase -- no sprinklers, short showers, 20% reduction in water usage, etc. It's frightening that nearby cities could run dry by this summer!

  • Beautiful beautiful post. I thought as much that you would have gone to Santa Barbara. I am hoping that the lake will be fuller in the next two years.
    The ocean water looks so gorgeous Janet. Looking forward to your San Diego trip.

    • Thanks,Zakiah! It was a good trip. Santa Barbara is now negotiating with other cities, and with the planning process for desalinating sea water (see my reply to Val's comment). It has happened that the lake was low (but not this bad), and spilled two years later, but that would take a LOT of water, and even an el nino year might not accomplish that! The sea was pretty while I was there -- it's always different! San Diego was a good trip too -- more woon!

  • These scenes are indeed worrisome. I hope that the mid-coast got some of the rain we enjoyed this past weekend.

  • I would like to take another cruise despite the ugly news reports about some mishaps.

    Love you photos!! As usual.

    Hope you had a nice weekend, Janet.

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