Santa Barbara Week Two

We're loving the beautiful weather here in Santa Barbara. Even though we had a "heat wave" this week (temps shot up to 86 on Wednesday!), we couldn't tell any difference -- the days have been breezy and the evenings are even a little chilly. Such a nice change of pace from the record-breaking highs in Phoenix right now.

On Friday evening we packed up some snacks and tried to attend an open-air screening of a Wallace and Gromit movie. There were signs posted on the grass warning "No Non-natural fiber blankets allowed". (It's to protect the grass). Unfortunately we had only brought a fleece blanket that was lined with plastic, so we thought we'd go ahead and be rule-breakers for just this once. But crime doesn't pay -- we got caught by one of the "blanket police" and were asked to remove it. I guess we were lucky they didn't confiscate it! Here is a "before" mugshot:

And here is our "punishment" -- an almost-as-comfy spot that we claimed on the nearby wall. It was only a few feet further back, so we could still see the screen just fine.

Over the weekend we took a couple of Architecture Walking Tours which are offered by the city. A massive earthquake in 1925 is largely responsible for the uniform Spanish-style look of the buildings in Santa Barbara. After the earthquake destroyed most of the downtown area, the town rebuilt with a very strict aesthetic (wrought iron, white walls, and red tile roofs) that continues to this day. The Saturday tour took us to mostly pre-1925 buildings, while the Sunday tour focused more on the newer buildings. I preferred the Saturday tour and I especially liked the Meridian Studios complex, which contains one of the oldest buildings in town, the Lugo Adobe built in 1830.

We also visited the Presidio historic park, which includes the remnants of the fort built here by Spain in 1782.

Over the weekend we also roamed around the brewpubs and wineries in the "Funk Zone" which is an area of town that is clearly NOT subject to the strict Architecture Review Board.

We love being in the heart of town where we can easily walk to dinner or a pub or a wine tasting room. We heard some funky jazz at the Carr Winery:

We went to an all-you-can-eat taco buffet in El Paseo's open-air restaurant on -- what else? -- Taco Tuesday:

But we don't go out for *every* meal. The Farmer's Market always seems to have some yummy ingredients so we've managed to scrape together a nice meal or two at home, too.

Santa Barbara Week One

Arizona is face-meltingly hot this time of year, so we made a hasty escape to Santa Barbara for a few weeks. We got an Airbnb rental in an area that would be walkable to Stearns Wharf, restaurants, shops, and bars.

Upon arrival the apartment needed a good cleaning (and a thorough spray of Raid to evict some ants), but other than that it is pretty great. Kevin will have a great view of Mission Creek (and a sliver of a view of the ocean) while working at the desk upstairs. The duplex doesn't have air conditioning, but it's not really needed since temps are in the 70's and there is usually a breeze. One drawback is that we are near two (!!) construction sites, a busy hotel, and the train station so there is a lot of traffic and noise on our street. But we could see the construction in the listing photos (see below), so it wasn't really a huge surprise.

Another drawback is that there are no dedicated parking spaces with this rental -- just street parking. We spent a good amount of time puzzling over the many different parking signs in the area. We *think* we have it figured out - we will just need to move the car around a couple times a week to avoid being in the street sweeping zone.

But we love that we are just a block from the beach, and the cool weather here is perfect for taking a nice long walk every morning. We are getting way more than 10,000 steps each day that's for sure!

It's good that we're getting plenty of exercise, because one of the first things we did in town was to take a walking/food tour, which was a great way to get our bearings. There are tons of restaurants in this town. I doubt we will have time to hit them all, but we will certainly do our best!

The food tour included stops at several downtown area restaurants and a couple wine tasting rooms: Grassini Vineyards and Cebada.

We have also discovered that Santa Barbara is a great place to get a pint -- there are tons of pubs and brewhouses within a couple-block radius of us. So far one of our favorite places has been a spot aptly named "The Brewhouse". Cheers!