Tuesday, July 6, 2010

4th of july - santa barbara

amazingly, this chap has never been to santa barbara, so it was a treat to finally visit by way of a day trip on sunday the 4th. the drive only took an hour up the 101, so it's definitely close enough to make a repeat trip in the future.

i basically got a neat mini-tour, which consisted of a stop at santa barbara city college, whose picturesque campus is literally situated on a cliff overlooking the pacific ocean. next stop was a visit to state street, the main thoroughfare in the city and the site of an inventive independence day parade. everything from local elementary school dance teams to military helicopters to retro 1930s automobiles to walking sharks (?!?) were on display here, and the boisterous crowds were fiercely vocal in their support for independence day. after chowing down on indian at spice avenue, we made the jaunt to the santa barbara mission, the 10th of 21 franciscan missions founded in california back in the 18th century.




afterwards, we grabbed a spot on the front lawn to watch the annual fireworks show at the pier (which was no more than a mile away), which contained quite the visual array - including that of a smiley face - so i was duly impressed. we dined at bouchon for dinner, a fancy nod to the region's wine country, so elephant garlic escargot and the grilled double-cut kurobuta pork chop was calling my name.

and here's a look at the b&b we lucked out on finding at the last minute. breakfast was served in this beautiful courtyard garden tucked away in the back:




white jasmine inn
1327 bath street
santa barbara, CA 93101
http://www.whitejasmineinnsantabarbara.com/

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