Santa Barbara a destination for nature and nourishment!
Dressed in multiple layers to ward off the Pacific Ocean’s cold breezes and drenched in SPF against the California sun’s powerful rays, I tried to forget Jeff Foxworthy’s hilarious story about being sprayed by a blue whale (Google it). But that tale kept coming back to me during a five hour whale-watching trip off the coast of Santa Barbara.
Fortunately, my daughter and I never got close enough to the world’s largest creatures to get wet. But we had plenty to see. The excursion took us about 30 miles off the coast and into the Santa Barbara Channel Whale Heritage Area, designated as such by the World Cetacean Alliance and World Animal Protection. The whales didn’t disappoint, surfacing regularly to spout funnels of water and flipping their tails as they dove back below the blue water. Along the way, brown dolphins, sea lions and a few flying fish also made appearances.
While seeing blue whales was a bucket-list item, we were also charmed by Santa Barbara, a town of about 88,000 almost two hours north of Los Angeles. Its premier neighbor, the unincorporated Montecito, is home to stars such as Tom Cruise, Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The area’s consistently cool temperatures and wide, white beaches, ideal for sunning or a game of volleyball, are seductive, despite the chilly Pacific being less than inviting without a wetsuit.
Santa Barbara is also a wine and food destination. A flight tasting at any of the many wine bars offers a glimpse into California’s vast inventory. At The Society: Mason and Main, part of the Hotel Californian, sommeliers pour selections paired with a menu grounded in local ingredients. Dinner at The Lark, named for the Southern Pacific Railroad train that used to run through town, is housed in the refurbished station and offers a menu that starts with brown butter cornbread and spicy pimento cheese, a combination to rival any Deep South recipe, and moves on to local seafood and produce.
A stellar dining experience on a smaller scale is the Botanica Afternoon Tea Experience at the El Encanto hotel. Perched high in the hills with sweeping views down to the coastline, the elegant dining room is an appropriate setting for a leisurely indulgence of classic high tea treats served with a selection of teas matched to each zodiac sign and a range of health benefits. Before leaving the hotel, we savored a glass of wine and a charcuterie board on the stone terrace with local artist Danielle Renee while painting a variety of stencils with wine. It turns out red varietals used as paint display interesting colors on paper as well as the palate. Who knew?
Between meals, we relaxed with a visit to the Hotel Californian’s elegant spa and spent an hour in the Salt Cave, a room whose floors and walls are covered in Himalayan salt crystals and where guests can chill in comfy lounge chairs while breathing in the revitalizing air. Two hours were happily spent exploring the house and gardens at Casa del Herrero, a 1920s estate decorated with an unrivaled collection of antiquities, some dating back to the 1500s.
With so much to do, we didn’t have time to take beach chairs and umbrellas from our Mar Monte Hotel room down to the water’s edge before it was time to head back to a very hot Atlanta. But thanks to Delta’s new direct flights, getting to and from Santa Barbara made the transition a little bit easier.
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