visiting Santa Barbara CA

You can rent bikes and ride up and down the beach.
http://www.traillink.com/trailsearch.aspx?zipcode=93108
Here's some hiking

 

Be aware that, due to the oil spill, there may be beach closures. There are about a million hikes in the foothills above SB, including plenty with lookout spots. Here's one; there are many others listed on that site.

 

Yes it is, actually it was Julia Childs favorite too !

Cheers,

 

Thanks for all the great info guys. Just wanted to gather a few extra ideas for this weekend, traveling with wife and daughters (3 and 5) staying across from Barrelworks (our go-to spot). We'll be dropping by Fig Mtn and have a few wineries we like to hit (Saarloos, Fess, Sanford, etc.), plus a few playgrounds for the kids. Is there anything going on this weekend, outdoorsy stuff for little kids? Any other favorite spots for food/wine/picnic that don't frown upon children? Mine are well behaved, but I'd like to steer clear of any problems. Also, does Fig Mtn allow outside btls to share, pref the Buellton location?

 

this is a nice, not too difficult hike to a waterfall that you may or may not want to bring some canned Union Jack to (you do)

http://www.yelp.com/biz/nojoqui-falls-county-park-goleta

 

Nice! I forgot about that one, we looked at doing it last year but my little one was mostly stroller bound. +1 on the Union Jack.

 

this park in Solvang is nice too. it's huge. has playgrounds and shit. i only know of it because there's an amazing skatepark there

http://funorangecountyparks.com/2010/04/solvang-parks-hans-christian-andersen-park.html

 

El Capitan State beach is very nice.

 

A friend of mine wrote this book, if anyone is interested in getting into hiking or expanding ones repertoire.

Hiking and Backpacking Santa Barbara and Ventura https://www.amazon.com/dp/0899976352/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_tc7yvb1GNZ68K

 

See below (it may not have been obvious that "IV" and "State Street" are both Santa Barbara, basically). Neither one is amazing, but both occasionally turn up with great stuff, and they're both solid all the time.

 

They do for many of their beers, especially the older stuff. Limits vary (1-3, I think).

 

Pardon the bump...

Planning a couple days in Carpinteria. Wanted to do some BBQ at Carpinteria State Beach but saw that they don't allow alcohol in the picnic areas.

Does anyone know of some alternative spots? Or are they not strict about this alcohol policy?

 

I don't know about Carp. but SB is very lenient on alcohol on beach policies. Also, check out BrewLAB.

 

Thanks! Do you know if there are any businesses that are BYOB-friendly?

 

I was in Santa Barbara for Halloween weekend, and I must say the Mexican food I ate was horrible. I even went to a place where the local Mexicans eat and I was disappointed.