I'm going to be spending the next month spousally trailing to Santa Barbara, California. I've never been there before, so if you have and have suggestions, comment away! Thus far my plans include eating fresh local produce and cluelessly asking the rest of America why it isn't spending its winter doing the same.
My main sense about this trip is that having learned how to drive will come in handy. A quirk of learning as an adult, though, is that you can kind of forget that you did. I still have this thing where I automatically ignore whichever suggested directions involve driving - not around here in NJ, where of course that's how I'd do so, but when contemplating being anywhere else. I just immediately go to how one would get from Point A to Point B on foot, maybe by bike - assuming public transportation's not an option. While there are advantages (ecological, toned-ness-ological, cheapnessological) of that approach, my sense of where we're staying is that it's one of those places where you really need to drive. Granted, I've walked across many such places in my day (Tempe, AZ and Los Angeles come to mind), but not absolutely needing to do so seems like it'll be a plus.
There are some good Mexican places in SB and hiking in the hills above it, but I found SB itself a little dull. I didn't visit Goleta or the area around UCSB though, which might be a little more happening.
ReplyDeleteMuch appreciated!
ReplyDeleteI'll actually be staying in Goleta, so if that turns out to be happening, all the better. I'm used to a fairly low level of happening-ness, though, so whatever it is, I'll almost certainly be impressed. I'm already beyond impressed that there's a Japanese supermarket within plausible walking (OK, hiking) distance.
I always have to visit Backyard Bowls for an acai bowl when I'm in SB. And you can walk down to the waterfront with it!
ReplyDeleteChelsea,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip! I'm so Northeastern that I'm not quite sure what an acai bowl is, but it sounds Californian and exciting.
To clarify, by "happening," I meant, is there a non-Starbucks coffeeshop where you can work after 6pm? I SB, not really. Probably more likely in Goleta due to university proximity.
ReplyDeleteMSI,
ReplyDeleteThe 6pm thing in Santa Barbara struck me just looking up places on Yelp and so forth. (I'm very excited to spend some time in the world beyond Princeton, so I've been doing some research.) One place that's a coffee *and wine* bar closes at 6!