Since I am not traveling until September, I thought I would start with my last trip. Every year I travel to Las Vegas and try to take a road trip to different locations in California. Last year I decided to try something new and made plans to go to Santa Barbara. I wasn't quite sure what we were going to do there, other than the Santa Barbara Zoo and maybe visit a winery or two, but it looked like such a great place to relax, and it did not disappoint!
I found a place called Hotel Mar Monte on Travelocity (www.hotelmarmonte.com), which I thought was a great place to stay. While not in the middle of all the action, it's walking distance from the Santa Barbara Zoo (which was great!) and right across the street from the beach. I reserved an ocean view room, and we were fortunate enough to get a room that had a balcony. Some of the ocean view rooms only have windows. The hotel restaurant was a good place for breakfast, although we chose to have our other meals elsewhere.
One of our meals was at Eladio's, along State Street and across the st
reet from Stearn's Wharf, where most of the Santa Barbara action is. We had a terrific lunch here! This is a picture of me with my entree, sole piccata. We had a choice of sitting indoors or outdoors, and decided to sit outside since the weather was so beautiful and we had a view of the ocean across the street.
Our last dinner in Santa Barbara was also on State Street at Opal Restaurant and Bar. The food was terrific, but the atmosphere was a bit noisy for us, and we would have preferred someplace a little more casual while on vacation.
We spent one day driving around Santa Barbara Wine Country including Santa Ynez Valley, Los Olivos, and Solvang. To be honest, I think one of the things that inspired me to travel to Santa Barbara and its wine country was the movie, "Sideways"! While I am by no means an experienced wine connoisseur, I am a wannabe!
We stopped by the Fess Parker winery where I tasted one of the wines produced there and ended up purchasing several bottles. After the winery, it was about lunch time and I remembered reading about a restaurant called the Wine Cask at Fess Parker Wine Country Inn (which is located in Los Olivos -- not at the Fess Parker vineyard). The Wine Cask also has indoor and outdoor seating, and we were seated outside. The food there was also very good. I had the trout.
We spent 3 nights in Santa Barbara, which seemed just about the right amount of time for us. We were able to do a lot of things at a casual pace. It was a very relaxing place to be, and I was so impressed with how pedestrian-friendly it is! Because we were staying about a mile away from Stearn's Wharf and State Street, it gave us an opportunity to use the electric bus transportation, and also to walk a bit. However, driving there was also relatively easy as well. Overall, a very good trip!
I found a place called Hotel Mar Monte on Travelocity (www.hotelmarmonte.com), which I thought was a great place to stay. While not in the middle of all the action, it's walking distance from the Santa Barbara Zoo (which was great!) and right across the street from the beach. I reserved an ocean view room, and we were fortunate enough to get a room that had a balcony. Some of the ocean view rooms only have windows. The hotel restaurant was a good place for breakfast, although we chose to have our other meals elsewhere.
One of our meals was at Eladio's, along State Street and across the st
reet from Stearn's Wharf, where most of the Santa Barbara action is. We had a terrific lunch here! This is a picture of me with my entree, sole piccata. We had a choice of sitting indoors or outdoors, and decided to sit outside since the weather was so beautiful and we had a view of the ocean across the street.Our last dinner in Santa Barbara was also on State Street at Opal Restaurant and Bar. The food was terrific, but the atmosphere was a bit noisy for us, and we would have preferred someplace a little more casual while on vacation.
We spent one day driving around Santa Barbara Wine Country including Santa Ynez Valley, Los Olivos, and Solvang. To be honest, I think one of the things that inspired me to travel to Santa Barbara and its wine country was the movie, "Sideways"! While I am by no means an experienced wine connoisseur, I am a wannabe!
We stopped by the Fess Parker winery where I tasted one of the wines produced there and ended up purchasing several bottles. After the winery, it was about lunch time and I remembered reading about a restaurant called the Wine Cask at Fess Parker Wine Country Inn (which is located in Los Olivos -- not at the Fess Parker vineyard). The Wine Cask also has indoor and outdoor seating, and we were seated outside. The food there was also very good. I had the trout.
We spent 3 nights in Santa Barbara, which seemed just about the right amount of time for us. We were able to do a lot of things at a casual pace. It was a very relaxing place to be, and I was so impressed with how pedestrian-friendly it is! Because we were staying about a mile away from Stearn's Wharf and State Street, it gave us an opportunity to use the electric bus transportation, and also to walk a bit. However, driving there was also relatively easy as well. Overall, a very good trip!
1 comment:
I wanna see more pics!
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