Santa Barbara Trip Report
Oct 12th, 2014, 03:22 PM
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Santa Barbara Trip Report
DH and I just got back from a great week in Santa Barbara. Thanks for all of the restaurant recommendations on this board—we ate really well!!
We flew into LAX and then drove up to SB. We stayed in an awesome apartment that I found on VRBO. Talk about location, location, location. 2 blocks from the beach, 1 block from the train station, we could walk to dinner and coffee. The space was huge and light filled. The kitchen was stocked with everything you could need in order to cook. They had a huge DVD library—DH watched a bunch of movies he had always wanted to see. (he’s a night owl and stays up late) Such a great alternative to the high price of Santa Barbara hotels. Here is the link with photos http://www.vrbo.com/512066
Food:
Breakfast—We got coffee and pastries from the following places. Handlebar Roasters—good for true coffee snobs. They don’t even have flavors to put in the coffee. Hot Spots Espresso had decent coffee and great banana bread. Santa Barbara Roasting Company had very good coffee and good muffins.
Lunch: Sandwiches at Culture Counter in the Public Market were incredibly good. A bit too good—big and filling. The hard part was that they don’t sell “regular” sodas in that building, so if you want a Diet Coke, you’re out of luck. Three Pickles—I had an amazing Reuben and my husband had a great sandwich as well. The pickles were awesome. C’est Cheese—I had a great house salad. We got the large cheese board. That was a bit disappointing—not enough to fill us up and no salumi, just pates for the meats. We did get some cheese to go there. They also had the best peanut butter cookie ever.
Dinner: We ate LOTS of seafood, which is what we wanted. Enterprise Fish was very good. We went to Opal and I had great fish there plus excellent wine. We tried the Wine Cask tasting menu with wine pairings. It was incredible but we were really hungry—the portions were teeny. The Hungry Cat—very good. We don’t do sea urchins or the raw bar items—if that’s what you want this would be the place. We got take out 2 nights. Once from Brophy Bros—their fish and chips were amazing. Really. Calamari, not so much. The other night we got food from Santa Barbara Shellfish. DH got the lobster tacos and I had clam chowder. Very good.
Day One:
We toured the Mission, which was very pretty. Went back to town for lunch and then back to the Natural History Museum. We enjoyed learning about the Chumash and the Pygmy mammoth find. The bird exhibit was great—so many stuffed birds right next to each other so you could tell one from the other. Very helpful. We drove the scenic route back to our lodgings—Alameda Padre Serra and that was fun. We stopped in at the AVA Santa Barbara Wine Room and got some lovely whites. It’s worth it just to look at the chalk board mural!
Day Two:
We toured the Courthouse. The tour was quite good and we learned many things we would not have known had we just wandered that amazing facility by ourselves. I would absolutely recommend the tour. Then we climbed to the tower to see the gorgeous views. Next was the Presidio—very interesting. Then we went to the Harbor to visit the Channel Islands Visitors Center there—its on the 4th floor of the building where the Maritime museum is located. We got lots of good info and some ideas for wine tasting the next day as well! We decided to skip the Maritime Museum.
Day Three:
We toured the Foxen Wine Trail. We drove up to Solvang to see the Santa Ines mission. Solvang was crawling with tourists. I realize people love the town but it was way too kitchy/twee for me so we drove over to Los Olivos. We had a superb lunch at the Los Olivos Wine Merchant and Café. We stopped at the following wineries: Ribeau, Andrew Murry, Zaca Mesa, and one more that is close to Fox Haven but is way back in on a road. Can’t remember the name. We bought wines at all four.
Day Four:
We rented bikes from Wheel Fun, which was only 2 blocks from our apartment. We rode up to the mesa and then meandered through residential neighborhoods on the way back. Then we rode to Montecito. That was a good 2 hours and built up an appetite for lunch at Three Pickles. Then we went to Gelsons to get picnic supplies for the next day. It was ok. We honestly could have done just as well by going to Trader Joes and Subway! And those were closer and had faster service. We wanted to go to the Ty Warner Sea Center but they were closing early for an event. So we sat out on the warf and watched the boats etc go by. UCSB was having a sailing class—needless to say that was not offered as a “PE” class at my Pennsylvania college!
Day Five:
Highlight of the trip! We went on the Caves and Coves Kayaking Trip with Channel Island Outfitters on Santa Cruz Island. We had to get up early to make it to the boat 45 minutes ahead of time to allow for check in, etc. Plus were able to find a coffee shop open at that hour-next to the hat shop. The trip over was lovely. We saw sea lions and a small pod of dolphins. Fortunately, there were only 4 of us on our sea kayaking trip. The other group only had 4 as well. The other couple in our group brought snorkel gear and really wanted to snorkel so the guide gave us mask, snorkel and flippers so we could go too! The water is COLD. But you get used to it and you do have on a sleeveless wet suit. It was great. I have never snorkeled in a kelp forest. We saw different fish, including the Garibaldi. Lots of sea urchins and anenomes. Plus a GIANT lobster sitting on the bottom! The visibility was incredible. You could see so much just sitting in the kayaks. We got back around 2 pm and ate our lunch. I would probably just do the regular/shorter kayak tour which gets back at noon or 1 (?). That gives you time to eat lunch and then snorkel right off the beach. The other group saw some great stuff. The guides just hung out with the supplies, so you could get the snorkel gear after lunch or whenever. I am not sure they can do that regularly but I think that our total group was so small they could let us use the equipment. DH and I had time to look at the Scorpion Ranch exhibits. Unfortunately, I made reservations to go back on the 3:30 ferry. Don’t. We shared the ferry with several classes of elementary school kids who were being kids. Just take the 4:00 ferry. We did get to see a huge pod of dolphins—that was awesome!
On the last day, we popped into the Sea Center—it is small but very well done and we really liked it. Then we had the daunting drive down 101 to the 405. I went to grad school in LA and that drive reminded me why I didn’t stay in the area. Tons of stop and go traffic on a Saturday. Wow. We actually ate lunch at the airport. I had a great kale salad and DH had an awesome burger. Not bad for airport food!
One last note—we didn’t have any problems parking in Santa Barbara. The 90 minutes free street parking and first 90 mins free in the lots were very convenient. We did have to move the car after we saw the Courthouse and then moved on to the Presidio. The only time we had trouble finding a spot was one evening when there was a big concert at one of the theaters
We flew into LAX and then drove up to SB. We stayed in an awesome apartment that I found on VRBO. Talk about location, location, location. 2 blocks from the beach, 1 block from the train station, we could walk to dinner and coffee. The space was huge and light filled. The kitchen was stocked with everything you could need in order to cook. They had a huge DVD library—DH watched a bunch of movies he had always wanted to see. (he’s a night owl and stays up late) Such a great alternative to the high price of Santa Barbara hotels. Here is the link with photos http://www.vrbo.com/512066
Food:
Breakfast—We got coffee and pastries from the following places. Handlebar Roasters—good for true coffee snobs. They don’t even have flavors to put in the coffee. Hot Spots Espresso had decent coffee and great banana bread. Santa Barbara Roasting Company had very good coffee and good muffins.
Lunch: Sandwiches at Culture Counter in the Public Market were incredibly good. A bit too good—big and filling. The hard part was that they don’t sell “regular” sodas in that building, so if you want a Diet Coke, you’re out of luck. Three Pickles—I had an amazing Reuben and my husband had a great sandwich as well. The pickles were awesome. C’est Cheese—I had a great house salad. We got the large cheese board. That was a bit disappointing—not enough to fill us up and no salumi, just pates for the meats. We did get some cheese to go there. They also had the best peanut butter cookie ever.
Dinner: We ate LOTS of seafood, which is what we wanted. Enterprise Fish was very good. We went to Opal and I had great fish there plus excellent wine. We tried the Wine Cask tasting menu with wine pairings. It was incredible but we were really hungry—the portions were teeny. The Hungry Cat—very good. We don’t do sea urchins or the raw bar items—if that’s what you want this would be the place. We got take out 2 nights. Once from Brophy Bros—their fish and chips were amazing. Really. Calamari, not so much. The other night we got food from Santa Barbara Shellfish. DH got the lobster tacos and I had clam chowder. Very good.
Day One:
We toured the Mission, which was very pretty. Went back to town for lunch and then back to the Natural History Museum. We enjoyed learning about the Chumash and the Pygmy mammoth find. The bird exhibit was great—so many stuffed birds right next to each other so you could tell one from the other. Very helpful. We drove the scenic route back to our lodgings—Alameda Padre Serra and that was fun. We stopped in at the AVA Santa Barbara Wine Room and got some lovely whites. It’s worth it just to look at the chalk board mural!
Day Two:
We toured the Courthouse. The tour was quite good and we learned many things we would not have known had we just wandered that amazing facility by ourselves. I would absolutely recommend the tour. Then we climbed to the tower to see the gorgeous views. Next was the Presidio—very interesting. Then we went to the Harbor to visit the Channel Islands Visitors Center there—its on the 4th floor of the building where the Maritime museum is located. We got lots of good info and some ideas for wine tasting the next day as well! We decided to skip the Maritime Museum.
Day Three:
We toured the Foxen Wine Trail. We drove up to Solvang to see the Santa Ines mission. Solvang was crawling with tourists. I realize people love the town but it was way too kitchy/twee for me so we drove over to Los Olivos. We had a superb lunch at the Los Olivos Wine Merchant and Café. We stopped at the following wineries: Ribeau, Andrew Murry, Zaca Mesa, and one more that is close to Fox Haven but is way back in on a road. Can’t remember the name. We bought wines at all four.
Day Four:
We rented bikes from Wheel Fun, which was only 2 blocks from our apartment. We rode up to the mesa and then meandered through residential neighborhoods on the way back. Then we rode to Montecito. That was a good 2 hours and built up an appetite for lunch at Three Pickles. Then we went to Gelsons to get picnic supplies for the next day. It was ok. We honestly could have done just as well by going to Trader Joes and Subway! And those were closer and had faster service. We wanted to go to the Ty Warner Sea Center but they were closing early for an event. So we sat out on the warf and watched the boats etc go by. UCSB was having a sailing class—needless to say that was not offered as a “PE” class at my Pennsylvania college!
Day Five:
Highlight of the trip! We went on the Caves and Coves Kayaking Trip with Channel Island Outfitters on Santa Cruz Island. We had to get up early to make it to the boat 45 minutes ahead of time to allow for check in, etc. Plus were able to find a coffee shop open at that hour-next to the hat shop. The trip over was lovely. We saw sea lions and a small pod of dolphins. Fortunately, there were only 4 of us on our sea kayaking trip. The other group only had 4 as well. The other couple in our group brought snorkel gear and really wanted to snorkel so the guide gave us mask, snorkel and flippers so we could go too! The water is COLD. But you get used to it and you do have on a sleeveless wet suit. It was great. I have never snorkeled in a kelp forest. We saw different fish, including the Garibaldi. Lots of sea urchins and anenomes. Plus a GIANT lobster sitting on the bottom! The visibility was incredible. You could see so much just sitting in the kayaks. We got back around 2 pm and ate our lunch. I would probably just do the regular/shorter kayak tour which gets back at noon or 1 (?). That gives you time to eat lunch and then snorkel right off the beach. The other group saw some great stuff. The guides just hung out with the supplies, so you could get the snorkel gear after lunch or whenever. I am not sure they can do that regularly but I think that our total group was so small they could let us use the equipment. DH and I had time to look at the Scorpion Ranch exhibits. Unfortunately, I made reservations to go back on the 3:30 ferry. Don’t. We shared the ferry with several classes of elementary school kids who were being kids. Just take the 4:00 ferry. We did get to see a huge pod of dolphins—that was awesome!
On the last day, we popped into the Sea Center—it is small but very well done and we really liked it. Then we had the daunting drive down 101 to the 405. I went to grad school in LA and that drive reminded me why I didn’t stay in the area. Tons of stop and go traffic on a Saturday. Wow. We actually ate lunch at the airport. I had a great kale salad and DH had an awesome burger. Not bad for airport food!
One last note—we didn’t have any problems parking in Santa Barbara. The 90 minutes free street parking and first 90 mins free in the lots were very convenient. We did have to move the car after we saw the Courthouse and then moved on to the Presidio. The only time we had trouble finding a spot was one evening when there was a big concert at one of the theaters
Oct 12th, 2014, 05:44 PM
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Hey stanton! What a fun vacation for you and hubby!
I wish I had known you were going. I would have steered you straight to Los Olivos for wine tasting. Did you happen to see the Longoria tasting room on the main street? I haven't been there in so many years that I don't know if he still has a tasting room there. Richard Longoria is my all time favorite winemaker. At one point his daughter went to the U, so that's why we can get his Pinot's in Utah liquor stores. Try one sometime.
I've been to SB a couple of times over the years when I still lived in CA, but never saw as much as you did. The kayaking sounds really great.
If you enjoyed it that much, you might look into going up to Tofino on Vancouver Island. Amazing!
I wish I had known you were going. I would have steered you straight to Los Olivos for wine tasting. Did you happen to see the Longoria tasting room on the main street? I haven't been there in so many years that I don't know if he still has a tasting room there. Richard Longoria is my all time favorite winemaker. At one point his daughter went to the U, so that's why we can get his Pinot's in Utah liquor stores. Try one sometime.
I've been to SB a couple of times over the years when I still lived in CA, but never saw as much as you did. The kayaking sounds really great.
If you enjoyed it that much, you might look into going up to Tofino on Vancouver Island. Amazing!
Oct 12th, 2014, 06:53 PM
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Dayle--I will have to look for his wines in the wine store. We have been to Vancouver and really liked it. But have not been to Victoria (which is on Vancouver Island, yes?).
I would definitely stay in the apartment again! It was awesome and something like $200 or $250 a night which is cheap for Santa Barbara. And that's just for a room at some of the places I saw.
I would definitely stay in the apartment again! It was awesome and something like $200 or $250 a night which is cheap for Santa Barbara. And that's just for a room at some of the places I saw.
