Santa Barbara Part I: A Dramatic First Impression

Santa Barbara: Our first stop on the Pacific Coast

We arrived to the coast with high hopes. After a week of camping in the desert, we were ready to be inspired by Santa Barbara’s vibrant food and wine culture. We were also excited to have our first beach experience of our Pacific Coast Trip!

I know it’s a bad practice to go into anything in life with expectations. Reality is always different and often leaves you feeling disappointed, especially if you’re an optimist. Still, I had read about the amazing wine scene (and like most people, watched the cult movie Sideways that takes place in Santa Barbara’s wine country). We also heard about the prevalence of farms providing fresh produce, meats and cheeses to markets and restaurants. Oh, and we also heard that the beaches are stunning. Needless to say, we went in with dreamy eyes and beautiful visions of our week ahead.

In the case of Santa Barbara, our high expectations were not let down. Instead, they were blown out of the water. (The Pacific water 😉).

It was pretty much love at first sight…

The first charm we encountered on the shimmering necklace of Santa Barbara was a generous offer for a free place to stay. Someone we haven’t even met, a friend of a friend, offered up her vacant home to us. We typed the address into google maps and our eyes lit up as it led us down a lane of homes paralleling the coastline. Finally, we reached the beautiful white stucco house with glass walls and a pool in the backyard. Tucked in among palm trees and yucca, it was just steps from the ocean and minutes from downtown. It seemed too good to be true.

Once inside, Jarrod surveyed the professional kitchen and brand new cookware as I marveled at the wide selection of wine glasses and tested out the big comfy furniture. The house was perfect and it begged us to open a bottle of wine and stay in for dinner.

Opera at the market

After pinching ourselves to make sure we weren’t dreaming, we headed to an open air market to check out the local produce. As we pulled up a large man dressed in black was singing Happy Birthday to the lady cashier in the most beautiful and deep toned Opera voice. It stopped everyone in their tracks to listen. When he was done, we all applauded with admiration. I exclaimed “bravo!” and he bowed toward me and then proclaimed in his resonating voice, “How do you do young lady! Is today your birthday too?” All I could think of to say was “I wish!” He chuckled and then glided away as if leaving the stage. We all gazed at him leave before going back to what we were doing before; oh yeah…shopping! What IS this place?!

Local Food Piled High

The market was spectacular. It had piles of fresh Meyer lemons, tangerines, clementines,strawberries and oranges. It even had an orange press to squeeze your own fresh juice. Bunches of plump asparagus, deep green curly kale and bright peppers of every color sat proudly. All the meat came from nearby organic farms. The cheese came from nearby dairies. We picked up a filet of sustainably harvested salmon, pork chops from a local farm, local Gouda, asparagus, big beautiful beets and dark purple Yukon potatoes that we had never seen before.

Funk Zone Wine Tasting

Our first day in Santa Barbara wouldn’t be complete without a bit of wine tasting, so for a quick sip we headed to the tasting rooms in the up and coming Funk Zone. This is an old industrial area of downtown with re-purposed warehouses and shipping containers. It’s now the hip place to get a drink and a bite to eat. Pali Wine Co had a coffee shop vibe to it, only instead of cappuccinos and lattes patrons were drinking glasses of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Two women sat at a bistro table, engrossed in conversation while another guy typed away on his laptop with his glass of wine next to him. Jarrod and I bellied up to the bar and tasted through our first Santa Barbara Pinots. They were bright and juicy and unlike other California Pinots that I’ve had that are much more vanilla and creamy.

Next, we went to Kunin Wines and tasted through their varied wines from Carignane, Viognier and Syrah. With a couple bottles of wine in hand we said farewell and headed back to our shoreline home for the evening. It was a lovely introduction to the place that we were quickly falling in love with.

Next up:

Santa Barbara Part II: Exploring the Beaches, Restaurants & Wineries