Santa Barbara stood out to us as we traveled up the coast. I’ve always thought of it as the demarcation line between northern and southern California, maybe not in terms of geography, but in how its a mix, a little bit of everything.
I asked a couple of my friends who are from Santa Barbara to give us recommendations for what to do if we only had an afternoon in town.
Our stops included McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams (so good!), Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co., Old Mission Santa Barbara, and seeing the largest fig tree in America.
I had been to Santa Barbara a couple of times before, but I never really saw it from a tourist’s perspective before this trip. Everyone was so friendly, we had a lovely chat with a middle aged man at the yacht harbor for 30 minutes, simply because he said hello and was interested in our travels.
We found this little seal hanging out near the yacht harbor. Unbelievably cute.
The classy downtown area was perfect for strolling around in, ducking our heads into eccentric shops that caught our eye, or finding a new scarf at the local India-inspired outdoor market.
Santa Barbara is one of those places people retire in and it’s not hard to see why. It almost feels like you’re in a tropical getaway with the palm trees and nice weather, the ocean and the soothing salty breeze. It easily became one of my favorite California cities after this trip.
What are some of your favorite spots up the California coast?
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Mimi McFadden
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I LOVE Santa Barbara — it is my favorite place along the California Coast (I drove from San Diego to Crescent City last summer)… second place is a town called Point Reyes Station near… you guessed it! Point Reyes 🙂
Great post — makes me want to go back asap.