California poppies decorate many areas of Santa Barbara. Photo Credit: Mark Weber
The logical place to launch a self-guided walkabout is the Santa Barbara Visitors Center (1 Garden Street). It’s located near the end of State Street on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The center’s friendly travel ambassadors provide maps, fact sheets, and practical tips to help you make the most of city activities. A few steps from the Visitors Center down Cabrillo Boulevard in Santa Barbara Harbor, Stearns Wharf (built in 1872) is the West Coast’s oldest functioning pier. As you approach it, look for a lively dolphin fountain that greets guests at the wharf’s entrance. The 1,900-foot- long rustic wooden pier accommodates cars as well as foot traffic generated by diners, shopping buffs, and salt water anglers. Fresh seafood, bait and tackle, toys, candy, wine tastings, and souvenirs are all available there. Wharf walkers can glimpse sailboats gliding by, watch for migrating whales, or gaze at a golden Pacific sunset. Also on Stearns Wharf, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center focuses on the entertaining aspects of science and the underwater world. At Sea Center, you can pet a shark, embrace a hermit crab, or track the graceful moves of a translucent blue jelly dancing across its aquarium. Next up as you exit Stearns Wharf, walk inland (and slightly uphill) across Cabrillo Boulevard onto Historic
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center focuses on entertaining aspects of science and the underwater world. Photo Credit: Mark Loehr
SUNNY SANTA BARBARA Story and photos by Paula Loehr
In case you were wondering, California dreamin’ is a real-life phenomenon. More than 40 fleeting years ago, my husband Dennis and I were fortunate enough to live and dream on the Pacific Coast in Santa Barbara, California. With its bright blue skies, perennial sunshine, and impeccable seaside location at the base of the Santa Inez Mountains, Santa Barbara fully deserves its complimentary nickname—The American Riviera. Although Dennis and I eventually relocated to the Atlantic coast of the Southern United States, we visit Santa Barbara as often as possible. It never ever disappoints us. During a recent weekend on “The American Riviera,” we realized that a pedestrian can experience much of Santa Barbara’s magic in two or three easy days on foot. If you decide your feet need a break during your walkabout weekend, here’s a back-up plan. Santa Barbara operates Downtown-Waterfront shuttles that roll up and down State Street to the Cabrillo Boulevard beachfront.
SUNNY SANTA BARBARA
COAST TO COAST FALL MAGAZINE 2018
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