Today was our first day in Santa Barbara! We experienced a bit of weather-related chaos today, but we were equipped to handle it. We started the day with a tour of the Santa Barbara Mission, and it was a beautiful sight. Sadly, we couldn’t explore much of the gardens because of the rain, but the church was amazing to see!

We then stopped for a group lunch at the cutest restaurant before heading to the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. We learned about the history of the Santa Barbara Channel, innovations in commercial diving, the very first lighthouse in Santa Barbara, and humanity’s impact on the Channel.

The rains began to pick up at this point, and our visit was cut short by a flash flood warning, but that did not stop us from taking in as much information as we could before we had to leave. We then traveled to the hotel to assess the flood situation and ended the day [safe and sound] with a group dinner, some yummy pizza, and a good night’s sleep.