After a lazy morning, we gave Becky’s mum a call after breakfast to wish her a very happy 81st birthday and once we had constructed a picnic lunch we headed off to Santa Barbara (about a 10 minute drive) to check out the beaches.
It turns out that Santa Barbara has two central beaches, separated by a pier called Stearns Wharf, called East and West beach. West Beach is a bit smaller and calmer so naturally we headed for East Beach. It was absolutely beautiful and we couldn’t believe how few people were there. If this was a beach in the UK, every square foot would be taken up but here there were at most a couple of hundred people across the several miles of sandy beach. We spent most of the day here, enjoying the sea which was lovely and warm as well as playing games in the sand. The views from the sea back to shore were also incredible with the backdrop of the Santa Ynez mountains as far as the eye could see behind aces of palm trees, it really was stunning!
When we had all had a bit too much sun, we set off to find an ice-cream and explore Santa Barbara a bit more. It is a really lovely place, heavily influenced by Spanish architecture. We had found our ice cream at a local store called McConnells and also visited the biggest fig tree in the whole of America, said to be able to fit over 1000 people beneath its bows. It certainly was very impressive!
We eventually headed home via the supermarket and ended the day with a lovely fish supper.
The Perry’s Travel Blog 