Oh Santa Barbara, as beautiful as I remembered you. Filled with memories of good friends and the best sunrise worth getting up early for. A Spanish colonial style kind of city with high mountains and a coastline to give you one of the best sunrises you have ever seen, where the sun rises over the ocean.
We arrived at Stearns Wharf and headed directly to Char West for the Fish and Chips.
The fish and chips were as good as I remembered, crispy and delicious. It was the perfect lunch and a great way to just take in the view of the ocean and truly appreciate where we were. Next stop was our hotel.
The Hotel
I booked Montecito Inn, I think, about 2 weeks prior to our trip. I always try to find the very best deal on my go-to apps, however, after looking around I called Montecito Inn directly and they actually ended up giving me the better deal themselves! But if you want to look around and you're looking for same night accommodations Hotel Tonight is possibly the best for that in my experience.
(use my "invite a friend" CODE: YUARMSTRONG for $25 off your first HotelTonight booking* ) Arriving at the Inn, it was true to the beautiful pictures posted on their website. We were met right away by the exceptional concierge. They welcomed us and were truly inviting and warm in their manners. Check-in was at 4:00 pm but they managed to get us in our room a bit earlier. We stayed in the beautiful 1 King 1 Full bedroom that included 2 lovely bathrooms! It was a very pleasant stay. We weren't able to experience their onsite restaurant, Scratch, because it has been closed for renovation, but they are reopening this Summer, 2017. Breakfast
In the morning we ended up taking a very nice stroll down the street finding Jeannine's American Bakery on yelp! It's a beautiful little restaurant, with outside seating included which we happen to chose on this beautiful morning. The weather was just right, sunny, but not too warm. We were a group of 5 with two little kids included. We were able to park our stroller right next to our table just fine. The staff was wonderful and our breakfast was delicious. It was the start to a very nice day in a natural bright setting.
Lunch
After breakfast we made our way to State St. Downtown Santa Barbara. It's always fresh full of nice people taking their lunch strolls, shopping through all the different stores, boutiques, restaurants and the beautiful Paseo Nuevo. This place is pretty amazing. I remember taking my own lunch strolls here everyday.
There is so much to pick from! But on this day we ended up at Sushi Tyme. It's kind of our thing when we are together with John. Sushi Time, sushi everything. And it was soooooo goood! The heart attack was my favorite! A lot was spent and we regret nothing. Dessert
Now it was time for dessert. Next to Sushi Tyme happened to be the perfect sweet option, Le Macaron, French Pastries!! To my pleasant surprise, it was run by some one who is actually from France! It's always nice to practice your high school french a little, you know, just incase... I could not be more excited about this place. I came back the next day before leaving, for an order to go.
On our last State st walk we also had to stop by Blenders in the Grass. I was desperate for an Acai Bowl and their bowl wasn't too bad. A little bit on the basic side, but certainly a fix to an Acai bowl addiction! Really, it was good. I'm just partial to my homemade bowls and no one can serve an Acai Bowl like The Nest in San Diego California of course, in my hometown.
Being out with little kids.
We enjoyed the rest of the day along the beach saying goodbye as we're definitely ready for our next family adventure. Kids are always a bit of a challenge, but a couple things that have helped me is packing yummy healthy organic snacks and drinks for them, because chances are, you might not always find places that have these things available. Cut up strawberries, for example, have always been a hit with my kids. I'll take them in a container, store them in the hotel fridge and take baggies with me as I need them. Bananas are easy and also cuties! I should probably make a separate post about this because I could go on forever. In the meantime, please share in the comments what are your favorite snacks on the go for your kids!
For me, I feel much more safe for Ellie (my 4 year old) to be buckled in, in her seat and everyone is pretty happy as we stroll along even just for our daily errands. I'll talk about this more in the future, but it's worth checking it out if you want to be out and about. You can see it in use in the video above!
Thank you so so much for stopping by!
I hope you found this useful, if for nothing else, but for the food bits. No one says it quite like Ethel Mertz.
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_____________________________________________________________________________ Items Mentioned: Baby Trend Sit N Stand Stroller
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