April 13, 2021
If you’re looking for an easy, long-weekend trip out of San Diego, look no further than our jewel sister to the north: Santa Barbara, or the so-called “American Riviera.”
Now you may be asking, “Why bother heading up to another California city that just mirrors our own?” Maybe:
- You need a break from everyone you know
- You did something illegal and need to remove all focus from yourself
- You have money to burn
- You’re bored and want to test your luck on the 101
- It’s summer and San Diego is HOT (Santa Barbara runs 10-20 degrees cooler, depending on my lies + any offshore breezes)
- You’re obsessed with the creepy history of religious conversion and you enjoy touring missions
- You’re sick of the animals at our world famous zoos and would like to see new animals at a much tinier zoo
- You are a wine snob, but not enough of one to go all the way to Napa
- You prefer the weird madness of the Danish town of Solvang to the unnerving creepiness of Hollyweird
At our Belmond hotel, El Encanto
If any of the above apply, then throw all your junk in your car and get motoring up to the land of Ellen Degeneres! We booked the El Encanto, which is a lovely, romantic boutique hotel where your can stay in your own suite, or “cottage” or whatever. Nice if you’re still paranoid about Covid-19 and you’d like to spread out without having some other person’s sneezes literally waft though the air vents from the room next door.
Perusing Slim Aarons’ “La Dolce Vita” from the room. That’s the ocean in the background.
What else do they provide, besides superb dining with a view of the ocean? There’s a heated pool.
Pool at El Encanto. Don’t worry, the kid’s not still there, but other kids are likely to appear.
They also lend out some pretty incredible electric bikes for those of us (all of us) who don’t want to burn precious butt power to get back up the hills.
Scoping out the houses in the hills near the hotel.
Sighted on our bike ride. Don’t know what it meant and didn’t ask, but as someone not in the know, it made me sad.
Maybe you love California history and you’d like to see some beautiful, old-timey missions.
The historic Santa Barbara Mission in California
It took five takes for daughty to take this pic without cutting off ALL the crosses at the top. You just have to laugh!
There is also a lot of shopping, and believe it or not it’s all opening back up again. Here’s some pretty tile stairs at the shops at Paseo Nuevo.
I had to rely on a damn selfie; the old man refused to labor over the right pic for me. Why bother getting married anymore?
Tour the old courthouse, this time as a visitor rather than as a defendant.
Mural Room in the Santa Barbara County Courthouse
Have the best sushi you’ve ever tasted (I’m not kidding) at Oku, across from Stearn’s Wharf.
Pro tip: wait until everyone else has ordered drinks and then order the Scorpion Shell (pictured) just for yourself. Remove the extra sharing straw as an obvious mistake.
Take a walk along the pier for ice cream or some other junk food.
For the record I just asked them to pose together without me. Your kids may be much more cooperative, in which case I’m sure you’re an infinitely more successful blogger (and mother?) than I am.
And what about the zoo? It’s really impressive, and you can get around the whole thing in two hours (or less, if you don’t stand there gaping at everything like I did).
Giraffes and their ocean view
Just look at the flamigos. I used to find their light eyes rather soulless and scheming (nevermind that my own eyes are light) until I stumbled upon this video of them being super affectionate with their handler. Now they are one of my favorite animals to observe.
Don’t their beaks look like they’ve been painted black? Apparently this is how they’re made.
It’s a small zoo, but that didn’t stop them from hiding the big cats around some very sneaky corners. We almost left without seeing these two: the snow leopard, and a pair of Amur leopards.
The red petals on the ground in Kisa’s enclosure are from the beautiful coral tree overhead. I saw her eyeing the crows bouncing around in its limbs, just like my cats do at home. A captive cat is always living the Greek myth of Tantalus, staring longingly at birds they will never have the chance to kill.
Kisa the snow leopard
An Amur leopard
Now on to Solvang!
Solvang is a really cute and charming weird little Danish town a scant 45-minute drive from Santa Barbara. I don’t think it would be nearly as unsettling if there were fewer tourists, and YES I know I was literally one of such tourists when I wandered the streets buying things like Leffe beer, princess cakes, and something called a rum ball, but it’s still a fact.
What’s there to do? Well obviously drink beer and eat Danishes. And shop for Norse viking trinkets.
If you’re looking for healthy California food, you might want to rethink your visit.
At least there was a banana and some berries on this thing.
But if you get hammered and some music breaks out, it would appear that this place suddenly gets a LOT more fun.
Parting tips:
- Make reservations in advance for everything: the Zoo, local wineries, Lotusland – the works. We got shut out at Lotusland because I didn’t plan ahead.
- You can get away with winging it at most restaurants – especially if you’re okay with eating early, like a senior citizen.
- Rent/borrow an e-bike – this is the best way to see the city! But bring your own air horn; no one carries them.
Hope you enjoyed my Pandemic Santa Barbara write-up. Thanks for looking, and safe travels! xoxo
