We're heading south and decided to take 101 and stop in Santa Barbara for a couple of hours. Is there anything we should be sure not to miss (we haven't been there in 30 years). Any suggestions for a good but casual late lunch?
Santa Barbara
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The mission there is absolutely beautiful and should not take too long to visit. I always like to eat out on Stearn's Wharf, there are several restaurants there that are pretty good and casual. Have a great trip, one of my favorite towns (my parents met there going to college).
Have you been to the Santa Barbara Courthouse? It's really lovely and worth a look, tours are offered as well. Not far from there is the Palace Grille which is fun for lunch.
If you go to the mission nearby you can visit the Botanical Gardens:
http://www.sbbg.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=visitor.showpage&pageID=2
Joe's Cafe has been on State Street since 1928. http://www.joescafesb.com/
We had a great breakfast there in June.
We went from breakfast up the hill to the mission for a tour and then went to the great Santa Barbara Zoo.
Weather permitting, after you've visited the mission, gardens and courthouse, spend your time strolling the beach or find an outdoor cafe where you watch others stroll the beach.
Also, several wineries have tasting rooms, most of them just a few blocks from the beach.
If you want to drive somemore, go up to Lake Cachuma for a picnic en route to Solvang and the wine region.
Thanks all. We only had a couple of hours for this stop on the way to San Diego. We ended up just strolling on State Street. The weather was gorgeous, so it was nice, but we were very surprised by two things - one was the number of chain stores (we thought there'd be more upscale boutiques) and two, the frighteningly large number of homeless people (honestly, more than I see in San Francisco). Maybe we'll stop on the way home to see something more significant than Banana Republic
Going north on 101, take the Milpas exit and head north. . .great Mexican restaurants on the right side. we especially like Los Agaves. Easy to get back to 101.
Stop in Montecito-so beautiful, just one exit south of Santa Barbara.
The zoo is really nice.
Visit Our Daily Bread for a delish snack.
Highly recommend Los Agaves also.
Santa Barbara is known to be rather homeless-friendly, allowing car-dwellers to sleep in public lots at night, opening public showers at the tennis courts etc. Also I think there is a real housing shortage there, with rentals so high that people are squeezed out of their living quarters at a higher rate than in other cities. Maybe a foreshadowing of things to come in other American cities........
Los Angeles actual has a much MUCH larger homeless population than does San Francisco, just more spread out and "hidden".