SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA – I’m geared up for my first-ever sailboat ride in Santa Barbara. But the weather isn’t co-operating. We’re supposed to take a sunset cruise with the folks from the Santa Barbara Sailing Center, but it’s a grey afternoon in mid-November and the prospects of an actual sunset are rather dim. But, hey, it’s warm enough for a ride on the water and this native Californian has 37 Canadian winters under his belt, so I’m not overly stressed. The captain and crew pull the ship out of the marina and out past the pretty Santa Barbara Pier, ,where Read more
Santa Barbara
A sunset cruise, fine wines and the best steaks in California: A visit to Santa Barbara and Buellton
My home state of California has seen its share of issues the past few years; most notably with fires. The recent Camp Fire in northern California was especially devastating. The fire near Thousand Oaks/Malibu also was extremely damaging. But folks in California are a resilient bunch, and the state consistently bounces back from whatever issues pop up. I was in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara (an area hit by fires last year) a few weeks ago and everything was pretty much back to normal. Of course, most areas of the state weren’t affected in any way. And the areas that Read more
We all want to save a buck. Or three. With that in mind, the folks at gobankingrates.com have put together lists of the 10 cheapest and 10 most expensive cities to visit in the U.S. I’m quite familiar with many of them and have some thoughts of my own, so I’m offering three free things to do in some of the most expensive cities. And, just for fun, free things to do in the cheapest cities so you can REALLY save. We’ll start with the most expensive on the list. In order, from most expensive on down, were New York Read more
FIVE GREAT PLACES FOR FIFTY PLUS TRAVELERS I get asked a lot about the best places to travel for folks who are 50 and over. Of course, I’m almost eight years into that category myself so I guess it’s a fair question. A lot depends, like many things in life, on what you’re looking for. If you’re a foodie, I probably would suggest a weekend in New York or maybe Vancouver. If you’re into wine, the Niagara Region of Ontario or, naturally, northern California works. Not to mention the interior of British Columbia, almost anywhere in France and several great Read more
SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA – This drop-dead-gorgeous city in southern California already has endless beaches, bountiful sunshine, urban wineries selling delicious local wines and killer restaurants featuring a huge array of local cuisine. Now they’re working on a permanent, new market complex that should open next year, one that could rival Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market or the wild and wonderful Pike’s Place in Seattle. It’s just not fair that an area that already has such natural beauty and can probably make almost everything except maple syrup is kicking it up a notch like that, but nobody ever said tourism was fair. Read more
