So Much to See and Do in the Golden State (Part 2)

Our last destination was Santa Barbara, a short hop down the coast. Unfortunately, we could not take Highway 1 as part of it was still closed after the mudslides, but Highway 101 was still a nice drive.

Santa Barbara is a lovely town with a long sandy beach, wooden pier (that they call a wharf) marina, great shopping area (State Street) and lots of good places to eat.

We stayed at the Harbor View Inn right on the main coast road and corner of state street so a great location. The hotel has three main buildings. We started off in the west building which is the lowest room grade and had views over the car park, but we could also see the beach. We had two nights there and two nights in the east building which looks over State Street and had a lovely big balcony to sit out on and drink our coffee in the morning. It also overlooked the beach area. If you want a full beach/harbour view, then you need to stay in the south building. The Harbor View has valet parking only which was $25 per day.

Santa Barbara is also good for whale watching - we went out with Condor Express and were lucky to see around six or seven blue whales as well and some Fin Whales and a super pod of common dolphins.

Whales come here to eat in the Santa Barbara Channel located between the coast and the Channel Islands. People go out to the islands for day trips or to camp and there are lots of options to visit - generally from Ventura or Oxnard a bit further down the coast. These are a must for birdwatchers.

On our last day we took a sunset cruise from the Marina - this was the perfect end to a fantastic trip!