Mike and I visited Santa Barbara for a friends wedding, and we stayed the whole weekend at an AirBnb with some friends. We made the most of it, and we had an amazing time! We both decided that it would be the perfect city to retire in because it has a beautiful coast line, the mountains nearby, lots of wine, and lots of yoga.

Airbnb

We stayed in the cutest Airbnb just west of downtown Santa Barbara. It had such a nice outdoor area with a huge garden and two small coy ponds. On our last night, we stayed in and cooked a family dinner, and we played games all night. We even did some face masks and got one of the guys to do one as well. It was so fun, zen, and peaceful.

Yoga at Yoga Savi

To start our weekend, Mike and I wanted to begin with a nice yoga class, and we had the perfect class at Yoga Savi. The studio was in a building that looked like a church, and it just re-opened. It is owned by a married couple, and we had the husband as our instructor. Our class was a Yoga Core class, and it was great because we did a lot of fun core work I have never done before, we worked on inversions (Mike and I are just beginners, but he helped show us how to build strength), and he was just a fun and funny teacher overall. It was a great start to our weekend.

Santa Barbara County Courthouse

After our yoga class, we stopped by to climb to the top of the Santa Barbara Courthouse for some beautiful 360 degree views of the city, mountains, and ocean. It was so clear and calm and beautiful. The building itself was a beautiful Hispanic style building with a lot of history inside that you can walk through and read about.

 

Kayla and James Wedding at Elings Park

The wedding was on top of a hill at Elings Park, and they lucked out with the perfect day; it was not too hot or too cold, and there was a nice breeze. The food was a delicious Mexican buffet, and the drinks were flowing all night. It did get a little cooler at night, but everyone danced the night away to stay warm and had a great time.

 

Urban Wine and Brewery Trail

Santa Barbara is known for its wine tasting rooms and breweries, and there is an “urban wine trail”. You can take yourself on a “wine tasting” or “beer flight tasting” tour. We stopped at a few, and there are many more we will have to come back to in the future.

• Wine Cask: We had an amazing dinner here. This restaurant is a little on the fancier side, but it was so good! We had sea bass, scallops, and butternut squash risotto paired with a delicious bottle of wine.

• Santa Barbara Wine Therapy: This bar is dog friendly, has a lot of outdoor and indoor games, and has a fun selection of beer and wine. They even have their own “mug club”. It was a very fun environment, and we would love to come back here again.

 

• Figueroa Mountain Brewing: The day after the wedding, we all met up here with the bride and groom to celebrate a little longer with them. We had the whole outdoor patio to ourselves. I ordered a beer that had lemonade in it, and it was DELICIOUS!

• The Neighborhood: This bar has many outdoor beer pong tables, bag games, and indoor ping pong tables. It was a super fun environment for a decent sized group.

Santa Barbara Boardwalk

The Santa Barbara Boardwalk area reminded me a lot of Santa Monica with its restaurants, shops, games for kids, beach, and lots of people watching. It is a fun area to walk around and explore.

McConnels Ice Cream

I had heard of this famous ice cream place called McConnels. The first night I almost stopped, but it had a decently long line, but on our final day, we decided we had to stop. Unfortunately, the line was even longer; we waited an hour for our ice cream! It was kind of worth the wait because there were so many delicious flavors to choose from, but I wish I would have stopped the first time. I ordered an ice cream flight so that I could taste three of the flavors; they were all great!