Come to Santa Barbara!
Santa Barbara, or the “American Riviera,” is basically lala-land. We figured we’d arrange for our wedding to be during a long weekend to give our family and friends time to explore Lily’s hometown.
When Dave and Lily are in town they like to hike Rattlesnake Canyon, walk on Hendry’s Beach, get drinks at Harry’s, run to the Rose Garden at the Santa Barbara Mission, ride surreys along the waterfront, grab a burger (or black bean soup!) at the Paradise Café and climb to the top of the Santa Barbara Courthouse to look out over the town.
Travel
Fly:
Santa Barbara Airport SBA
Los Angeles International Airport LAX
Los Angeles to Santa Barbara:
Amtrak Surfliner Surfliner
Airbus Airbus
Drive:
Santa Barbara is located on US 101 5.5 hours south of San Fransisco and 1.5 hours north of Los Angeles by car.
Guest accommodations:
The Lemon Tree Inn has a block of rooms for the Bixler wedding. Their rates run from $130-$150 per night.
As Lily has mentioned to many of you, if you’re interested in staying with the Bixler’s family friends, email Lily at us@lilyanddavid.us and let her know how many people and how many nights. We have dear family friends who have offered up their spare rooms for wedding guests.
Other fun stuff:
Some favorite restaurants:
One of Jess and Lily’s favorite things to do together is split a Buda salad at Sojourner Café.
Blenders in the Grass has amazing smoothies.
It’s fun to walk around downtown along State Street and in Paseo Nuevo, Santa Barbara’s outdoor shopping area.
The Courthouse is fun to visit– the sunken gardens are lovely.
We have a nice zoo, a great natural history museum and lovely botanic garden. For the adventurous, there’s whale watching on a catamaran or horseback riding at the Circle Bar B ($50 for an hour and a half trail ride with spectacular views.) Our waterfront and marina are fun to poke around. There are lots of shops and fishing on the pier. Stop by Brophy Brothers in the marina for sefood and a killer bloody mary. There are also companies that take people into the valley for wine tasting, or you can grab a map and do it yourself. Stop at Coldsprings Tavern on San Marcos Pass for a bite.
Go on a self-guided tour of the city.
Our favorite beaches are:
(All have resident dolphin pods and great bird life.)
Starting from the north there’s El Refugio State Park, which is a campground but has a beachfront day-use area great for a picnic, hike and swim. It takes 30 minutes to get here so plan accordingly.
Hendry’s Beach has bathrooms, an intrepretive center adn a great restaurant. Dogs are allowed to the left, no dogs to the right. Jess has umbrellas and chairs you can borrow.
East Beach in SB is very popular. It’s next to our pier and is a fun place to play volleyball. There is a shoreline bike path.
Butterfly Beach in Montecito is small and arguably the most pretty beach in town around sunset. Santa Claus Beach in Carpinteria is more primitive but is a great children’s beach with a lovely private cove to the north. It’s great for walking.
Bates beach in southern Carpinteria is a bit farther but is very beautiful. Horses are often ridden here. It’s right next to the famous surf spot Point Rincon. The beach has bathrooms, showers but no food vendors.
Favorite trail hikes include:
Rattlesnake, Tunnel Canyon , Inspiration Point
We like Alice Keck Park
and Elings Park (where Jess walks Cedar most days.)
The Mission Rose Garden is stunning, a must see.
Rattlesnake is our favorite SB hike.
Kid stuff:
Rent surreys and ride along the waterfront downtown!
Go to Kidsworld, jungle gym galore that big kids will enjoy too . Another good kid park is Chase Palm Park by East Beach.