Acorntopia: March 2010

We went to Goleta this afternoon to meet a friend and have dinner. We decided to go to the Santa Barbara Chicken Ranch in the Fairview Shopping Center. Back when we lived out there we ate at the Santa Barbara location quite often for lunch. This was the first time we went to the new Goleta location, and we were happy to find that it was just as good as the original restaurant. The interior was similar, but larger with a bit more space. We all gave it a thumbs up and would go there again.

Deane and I had talked earlier about the fact that there weren't that many ice cream or frozen yogurt places any more. Back when we were in high school and college there were a couple in the area that we went to quite a bit. Swenson's Ice Cream was on Calle Real about a half mile away and there was a frozen yogurt place in the Fairview Shopping Center. Lo and behold - Deane spotted a sign for a Carvel's Ice Cream two doors down! We went over and got some ice cream. The place was very clean, the service was good and the ice cream was great. Definitely a place we'll be going to again. They also had some cool ice cream cakes - we thought about getting one, but it probably wouldn't make it home to Ventura.

We're setting up a workroom for Deane's art and rubber stamp business. We've used the room for storage for the last few years, and decided to tidy it up over Spring break. We found some nice shelves and a desk from IKEA and worked out where everything would go. Our first plan was to take my 20 year old "commuter" van to pick up the furniture, but realized that the back seats didn't come out, so the shelves wouldn't fit. We decided to have the furniture delivered, but wanted to do it at the store instead of online so we could confirm everything.

Since we were taking Deane's car, we decided to visit the zoo first. It's only a few minutes from IKEA, and we hadn't been there for a while. We arrived around opening time and hurried to the gorillas and orangutans. Most people start at the front of the zoo and slowly work their way to the far end so if you don't start at the entrance, you avoid the crowds.

The some of the gorillas were roaming around, but most were sitting and eating. The orangutans were doing the same, except for one naughty youngster that was climbing all over the exhibit and pestering the older ones. They took it with good grace, but it was amusing. The orangutans' exhibit is surrounded by wire mesh, so it's difficult to get good photos though. We stayed at the zoo for a bit over an hour (we have memberships, so don't have to pay each time) and then left to IKEA.

We arrived at IKEA around lunch so we went to the cafeteria and bought the traditional meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy and lingonberry sauce. As an added bonus, we received in change two of the new 2010 pennies with the new design. They changed it for Lincoln's 200th (actually 2010 is his 201st) birthday. Very nice design. We then found our way to the furniture section and ordered the shelves and a desk. The smallest shelf would fit in the Civic, so we decided to take that one home to get started. We bought a couple other odds and ends (almost impossible to leave the store without doing that) and got home by mid afternoon.