Our Visit To The TomatoFest!
A Weekend Visit To Carmel And The Quail Lodge!
First Stop, Visit AJ And Laura
We visited our friends AJ and Laura from voyages gone by while passing through Santa Maria! We swapped the latest stories and ate brie cheese and grapes in preparation for the voyage north to Carmel. A delightful afternoon was had by all!
Laura
and AJ enjoying a jaunt around the deck on our voyage to Midway Island!
It was a nice cruise with plenty of time to just rest and watch the
world go by. Laura and AJ had been on the previous trip so they
had almost a month on-board the vessel!
Where 1 And 101 Come "Together"
U.S. Route 101 runs through the middle of Santa Maria and is the main
expressway connecting all Central Coast cities. It has been improved to
freeway status (meaning all at-grade intersections have been eliminated)
within the town of Santa Maria itself.
California State Highway 1 runs around the western edge of the town and
connects it to nearby Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc. Oddly,
though the section of 101 in the town is a freeway, and a small part of
a nearby section of Highway 1 that runs between the town and the base is
also a freeway, the two freeway segments do not directly connect to each
other.
Santa Maria
Santa Maria is the largest city in Santa Barbara County, California.
According to the California State Department of Finance, Santa Maria's
estimated population surpassed Santa Barbara's with an estimated
population of 90,518.
The 2000 census indicated Santa Maria's population at 77,423. The
estimated population of the area is about 140,000, which includes the
Santa Maria Valley, the city of Guadalupe and the unincorporated
township of Orcutt.
An additional 12,000 people live in Nipomo, near Santa Maria proper.
Santa Maria is probably most notable for its ever expanding wine country
and the creation of what is now commonly known as tri-tip and Santa
Maria Style Barbecue.
Home Of The Tri-Tip
Santa Maria is most notable for its wine and barbecue. The tri-tip steak actually has its roots in Santa Maria. The tri-tip is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin. It is a small triangular muscle, usually 1.5 to 2.5 lbs. (675 to 1,150g) per side of beef. In the United States, this cut was typically used for ground beef or sliced into steaks until the late 1950s, when it became a local specialty in Santa Maria.
Santa Maria Weather September 15th 2007
