Eighty-eight air miles up the California coast from LA, Santa Barbara basks in the ambience of California the way it used to be: hip, but comparatively unhassled.
Between them, United Express and American Eagle lay down a virtual air bridge every day between LAX and SBA. If you’re looking to get back to where you want to be now’s the time to book the trip.
In keeping with the tone of this seaside town, here’s a look at what’s happening this late spring and early summer:
Through July 31 stop in Anna’s Bakery and have a helping blueberry scones, Peet’s Coffee and a bit of East Coast art. The artist is Nancy Rinn, a Maine transplant who fell in love with Santa Barbara – while never forgetting her roots. She works in watercolors, and the result is wondrous: cats from Maine shelters, rocks from Maine’s coast, and lots of Up East insights.
Infected by the vroom, vroom virus – that easy-to-catch, impossible-to-get-rid-of malady that makes you salivate when a great car zooms by? California is the epicenter of the epidemic. The Through August 12 the Santa Barbara Museum of Art examines the love affair between southern Californians and their automobiles. Culled from SBMA’s permanent collection, the photographs of Behind the Wheel probe the psychological place the car has carved out in the lives of people who populate the southern half of the state. The preliminary prognosis: there is no cure.
Think all the great Calvintages are up in Napa? Nah. Through Sept. 3 come explore the local possibilities with Adventure Hummer and Backroads Wine Tours. Some of the finest wines in the country come from these parts. Believe it. Tours cover tasting fees, a souvenir wines glass and lunch. That, plus the guys who run this wine tour really know their grapes.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: gamillos)
