The beach town of Santa Barbara is one of my favorite places for a day-trip getaway. It is just about an easy and pretty 1 1/2 hour drive from Los Angeles, and it offers nice beaches, a yacht harbor, and lots of classic Spanish style buildings — not to mention great weather and plenty of good restaurants! Last weekend our son set out for a one-week sports camp, and we decided to drive up to Santa Barbara to relax and ultimately enjoy a nice dinner at Stearns Wharf (also called “Santa Barbara Pier” by many people).
The Santa Barbara Courthouse is a popular tourist attraction in its own right. Built nearly a hundred years ago (after the earlier courthouse was destroyed by earthquake), it is a grand complex of four connected Spanish Colonial style buildings, big white walls with red tile roofs, and plenty of red clay tiles. Inside and out the decor is classic and beautiful — even colorful murals covering the walls of a courtroom! We visited on Saturday, but the courthouse was open for visitors to enjoy strolling around and through it. We saw people enjoying quit picnics on the courthouse lawn, an outdoor wedding, and went up to the fourth floor viewing platform to get a good view of Santa Barbara in all 4 directions. There was a fresh breeze up there, and what gorgeous views!
The courthouse was undergoing some renovation work while we were there, so construction equipment cut off a few views, but we thoroughly enjoyed it anyway — and used it as a backdrop for a little “fashion photo shoot,” too!
Now that I have enjoyed a taste of the Santa Barbara Courthouse, I am sure I will go back in the future.
P.S. There is a mini-video about the visit I show in my Instagram below; click the play button and check it out!
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