There's A Lot To Do In Santa Barbara, And We Did A Lot -- Day One

Up early Saturday morning, we walked a mile along the quiet beach to the feet in the sand Shoreline Beach Café.  Tucked smack in the corner of the beach, it was the first of three cool breakfast places we ate.  Walking back, we detoured out to the end of famous Stearns Wharf, for stunning views back over Santa Barbara to the mountains that frame the skyline.

The drive north to hike the Loop Trail at Santa Barbara Shores was easy (h/t Jim Hobart for the recommendation).  The hike itself is quite stunning.  We were too late to catch the fields alive with butterflies, but we could imagine it in our minds’ eye.  The topper was, of course, when the trail went along the ocean cliffs, affording amazing views to the beach far below.  (Pro tip: Don’t fall off the cliff!)

Alas, the old Santa Barbara Mission was packed for a festival, so we were stymied on finding parking.  Plan B was to go to lunch at the famous Cold Spring Tavern.  Opened in 1868 as a stagecoach stop in San Marcos Pass.  It’s a great hangout for motorcyclists, hippies, dippies, and all sorts of other people.  Deep in the woods on the side of a mountain, Tri-Tip sandwiches are their speciality.  There are a number of out buildings, the most important of which is the bar.  

Carol and I got a picnic table and feasted on Tri Tips and onion rings.  Cold beer tastes better in the mountains.  Live music sounds better too.  All the locals we talked with in the few days afterwards were impressed we went to Cold Spring Tavern.  We were impressed as well.

After we got back to the hotel, we walked along the Cabrillo Boulevard for the Santa Barbara Arts & Crafts Show.  We saw art, things attempting to be art, crafts, and things claiming to be crafts.  Usually it's hard for us to go to one of these and not buy something, but this stuff was easy to pass up.  It was still nice to get out and walk alongside the beach. 

We have noted to each other that we don’t really maximize the amenities at the hotels we stay at, as we are banging around the area to see the sights and adventure the activities.  So we went up to the rooftop.  And what a rooftop – lounge chairs, the pool, service, umbrellas.  We enjoyed a bottle of chardonnay (not much of white wine drinkers, but it was the 35th Anniversary gift from Inspirato, so who are we to turn down free wine?) and some marinated olives & mozzarella.  We were living our best California life.

After actually relaxing for a rare time on a trip, we went to Brophy Brothers by the marina for dinner.  The restaurant had an hour wait, so we went into the bar and feasted on local seafood.  We had stunning views of the marina and mountains.  

After dinner we stopped at the hotel bar for a nightcap.  Our plans to take the glasses of wine up to our room were dashed when we fell into lengthy conversation with a couple of locals.  The main fellow we chatted with was from New York via Puerto Rico, so the conversation turned in many directions, including San Juan, the Yankees, and the NY football Giants.  Fun impromptu talk.

All that in one day.