The American Riviera
I've been blessed with opportunities to see some of the most beautiful places on earth. Up at the very top of my personal list are the Italian and French Rivieras. I can stare at those gorgeous coastlines for the rest of my life. I never believed anything similar existed in the United States. I've now rewritten that opinion. Santa Barbara is striking. I am not saying Santa Barbara is Nice. The waters are not a deep azul. However, the stunning coastline is not hard on the eyes.
Santa Barbara is sandwiched in between the Santa Ynez Mountains and Pacific Ocean. This creates a dramatic affect; the city rolls into the ocean. Most of the city features the Mission Revival style of architecture. I absolutely love this Spanish influenced look. A Mediterranean climate provides comfortable temperatures and perfect skies. Due to a city ordnances, billboard advertising and big box stories are non-existent. It is unlike any other American city I've visited.
The trip to California's central coast is a quick trip from Portland. We flew PDX>SFO>SBA. The ride into Santa Barbara Municipal Airport was on a puddle jumper. You exit the plane onto the tarmac; the airport is almost entirely open air with Mission accents. I felt a world away from Oregon.
Teresa and I had arrived early this past Saturday morning. Anna was visiting friends from graduate school, and she invited us for an escape from the Northwest. We weren't to meet until late in the evening; we decided to explore the city. Our first stop was the Saturday Farmer's Market. It is considerably smaller than Baltimore or Portland's markets, but not lacking in choices. I am assuming its due to the mild temperatures, but we could have procured all of our fruits and vegetables for the week. A few street performers, bakers, producers of textiles and other various items rounded out the market. I purchased a bag of fresh trail mix for a midmorning snake.
The main street through Santa Barbara is State Street. It basically splits the city in half and leads into Stearns Wharf. We spent the rest of our day in and around this area of the city. We walked to the end of the wharf for excellent views of the entire city and West Beach. We ate lunch at Beach Break Cafe near the bottom of State Street. It was early afternoon when the sun broke through low clouds to produce the perfect afternoon. We continued to stroll through the shops, and finished a long day with Pacificos at The Natural Cafe. Its outdoor tables were situation perfectly for people watching. It seemed all types of people were congregating. This is in stark contrast to Portland were I've come to only notice a few examples of people.
As the day began to wind down, our long weekend was just beginning. Anna was set to arrive around 11pm, and we were to meet her friends Matt and Erin for dinner. I was extremely tired; we'd been awake since 4am to catch our plane. It was easy to remain awake and excited. The warmth and beauty of Santa Barbara was overwhelming.
