R. H. Sheldon - 5 Fun, Free & Fascinating Sights in Santa Barbara

5 Fun, Free & Fascinating Sightsin Santa Barbara

Part of the 5-Spot ebook travel series

For the frugal, miserly, penny-pinching tourist inall of us

R. H. Sheldon

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoymentonly. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.If you would like to share this book with another person, pleasepurchase an additional copy for each recipient. If youre readingthis book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for youruse only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase yourown copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of thisauthor.

Copyright 2012 by R. H. Sheldon. All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced in any form withoutpermission in writing from the author except for brief quotationsfor articles and reviews.

All photographs by R. H. Sheldon

Welcome to Santa Barbara

Until recently, my visits to Santa Barbarahave been drive-throughs on US 101, heading north or south,whichever way the wind was blowing. I thought of the town as littlemore than a playground for the rich and famously rich, hardly theplace for the likes of me.

But in the past year, Ive gotten to hang outthere a couple times and see for myself why Santa Barbara is knownas the American Riviera. Located two hours north of LA, the citystands at the crossroadsor crosshairsbetween the southern andcentral California coasts. Theres some debate as to which side ofthe line Santa Barbara falls, but I like to think of the place as aborder town, free from the encumbrances of either distinction.

Climate-wise, the area cant be beatwith itsgentle, middle-way Mediterranean bubble that keeps the city frombowing to seasonal extremes. Heat waves seldom cause concern, andcold snaps amount to little more than putting up the top on yourFerrari.

Dont get me wrong. Santa Barbara is indeed acelebrity haven, with past and present residents of such ilk asJeff Bridges, Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Cruise, Whoopi Goldberg, JaneFonda, Carol Burnett, Brad Pitt, Julia Child, Stevie Nicks, MarthaGraham, Ronald Reagan, and the ever-intriguing Charles Manson.

Truth is, youre not likely to run into anyof them (living or otherwise). Any who reside there are sequesteredaway in their mega-mansions tucked up in the foothills of the SantaYnez Mountains, rarely venturing out to places that my kind arelikely to frequent.

But the celebritiesand the mountainsareonly part of the story. To the south lie the magnificent shores ofthe Pacific Ocean. I say south because Santa Barbara sits smack dabin the middle of an east-west trending section of shoreline, thelongest such section on the West Coast.

With the mountains forming its northernborder, superstar elites and all, Santa Barbara provides ageographically diverse and somewhat isolated setting that makes ita popular tourist and resort destination. And despite its ratherpricey real estate, there are still plenty of sights to see forfree, such as those described in this bookthe Arroyo Burro BeachCounty Park, Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens, the Santa BarbaraCounty Courthouse, the Santa Barbara waterfront, and Cold SpringTrail.

So grab your suntan lotionand costume jewelry and head on down (or up or over) to SantaBarbara. And if you want to see more photos, in addition to theones in this book, go to my websites 5-Spot page and click the YouTube video link nextto the listing for the Santa Barbara book. Be sure to maximize thevideos resolution and switch to full screen mode. Then slip intoyour designer jeans and pop open a bottle of California cabernetand dream youre on the Riviera, caressed by the soft and succulentand scintillating breezes rolling in off the ocean.

Arroyo Burro Beach CountyPark

Lots of beaches in the Santa Barbara area.Of course, there are. But if you want to escape the more touristyones, then check out Arroyo Burro Beach, tucked along the cliffs inthe western edge of the city.

I supposed I shouldnt be telling you aboutthis place. I mean, if lots of tourist start showing up, it willget like all the other beaches, which wont make the locals toohappy. But thats what they get for living so close to the ocean.Share and share alike, as the saying goes.

Speaking of locals, many of them still callthis place Hendrys Beach. The Hendry family owned the beach thefirst half of the 20th century. The state bought it in 1947 for$15,000, then gave it to the county. The beach is now named for thecreek that empties into the ocean at this point, but if you hear itreferred to as Hendrys, youll know whats going on.

The beach itself is a secluded sandycrescent with towering cliffs on one side and the ocean on theother. Locals love coming here to swim, fish, walk, surf, sunbathe,boogie board, watch whales, watch sunsets, or picnic in one of thenearby grassy areas. Keep in mind, though, this is a beach, not anamusement park. You wont find volleyball courts or skateparks orlong concrete boardwalks that protect you from the rocks andsand.

However, the park does offer restrooms,showers, and a restaurant where you can toast the suns westerlydescent, if you can catch any of it from this southern vantagepoint. Theres also free parking, but when thats gone, youll haveto park in the residential area across the street, unless its sobusy that even those slots are taken.

One reason this place is so popular isbecause it has an off-leash area (for dogs, not those intoS&M). In fact, it might be one of the best-known dog parks inSanta Barbara. They even have a self-service dog-washing station.And if you dont bring your own canine, the dogs that do show upprovide beachgoers with endless entertainment. Puppies and surf aremade for each other. If you dont get giddy watching them play, youmight consider therapy or, at the very least, one of those New AgeCalifornia sensitivity groups.

The off-leash area sits below the DouglasFamily Preserve, a 70-acre tract up on the bluffs overlooking thebeach, purchased, at least in part, with the $600,000 that MichaelDouglas donated to preserve the land. In fact, the off-leash area,I believe, owes some of its good fortune to a stipulation by theDouglas family that the critters have a place to play. At leastthats what I heard.

The preserve itself is the largest area ofcoastal open space in the city limits. A walking trail loops aroundthe parks perimeter, which you can access by following thesidewalk along the south side of Cliff Drive. But you might want toask directions before taking off, in case you end up in someonesswimming pool. The trail is supposed to be part of the Arroyo BeachTrail, but the details about all this are somewhat sketchy. Again,best to ask a local.

And there are plenty of them around. Its agreat place to hang. A great place to be. And, of course, itsentirely free.

Locate Arroyo Burro Beach County Park onGoogle Maps

Learn moreabout Arroyo Burro Beach County Park

Alice Keck Park MemorialGardens

First, lets clarify something. Park isthe last name of the woman who purchased the property in 1975 anddonated it to the city. A lucky coincidenceor confusingdependingon how you look at it. But at least the name Alice Keck Park isbetter than Alice Keck Swamp or Alice Keck Bog, though Park canstill take some getting used to in this context.

But the name is not why you come here. Youcome because this small slice of landonly 4.6 acresis one of themost elegant and serene garden settings this side of paradise.