Monday, January 27, 2014

Weekend Highlights - First Weekend in Santa Barbara!

I spent the weekend hanging out with the bf and am still getting moved in, so I don't have a meal prep post for you this week. If you're in need of inspiration, check out my previous meal prep posts here.

I'm spending today in LA dropping the bf off at the airport, visiting friends from college, and making an all-important Ikea run. I'm really sad to see the bf go, and almost just as sad to be driving to LAX at 4:30 am (I kid), so I'm drowning my sorrows with a recap of our fabulous first weekend in Santa Barbara.


On Friday, we woke up super early for sunrise at the Grand Canyon. It was incredibly beautiful and moving. We didn't have time to go down past the canyon rim, so that's definitely still on my bucket list. I'd love to do a long hike there, although maybe when it's a little warmer!


After leaving the Grand Canyon, we drove the last 9 hours to Santa Barbara and arrived at my new place around 8 pm. We were pretty exhausted, so after meeting my new housemates and eating our first meal in the new house (healthy-ish grab and go food plus a bottle of wine from Trader Joe's) we barely got the bed set up before falling asleep.


Saturday morning was sunny and beautiful so we took an early morning walk along the beach to the  Bird Refuge. We ended up walking around 5 miles, and the great weather and amazing views was an awesome introduction to Santa Barbara living.


 After stopping for a yummy bagel and latte at Jack's Bistro, we showered and headed out to explore the Urban Wine Trail. The Urban Wine Trail is a collection of over 20 wine tasting rooms and even some production facilities, all located close to downtown Santa Barbara. Most of the wineries are clustered in what's known as the Funk Zone, a cool former industrial area that is now occupied by artists, restaurants, bars and wine places.

We had some good wine and some not so good wine. Carr was by far and away our favorite, and their tasting room is also really cool and offers views of the production facility. It's a little far from most of the other stops (and dangerously close to my house) but definitely worth the trip. And overall we just enjoyed the kind of laid back, fun wine culture on the trail and that it was all within (fairly long) walking distance from my new place.


We took a break from wine tasting for some awesome fish, al pastor, and tongue tacos at a little hole in the wall called Mony's. Then, for dinner, my new housemates took us to one of their favorite Mexican restaurants. I can tell already that the abundance of good Latin food is one of the things I'm going to like about this town!


Sunday morning was rainy and cold (ok by cold I mean low 50s). The bf had to catch up on some work, so we packed up our laptops and headed to Coffee Cat downtown on my housemate's recommendation. My caffe au lait  and crepe were delicious, and it was the perfect place to spend a rainy Sunday morning.


After spending a few hours working/blogging/picking out Ikea furniture, we took a walk up the Courthouse viewing tower and down State Street, which was still bustling despite the somewhat dreary weather. We ended the night with a truly amazing meal at The Lark and more wine at Les Marchands, the neat little wine bar next door. Then it was off for a little True Detective (soo good but so freaking scary!) in bed and a couple hours of sleep before heading out to the airport at 4:30 AM this morning.


I still have a week until I start my new job, which I'll mostly be using to unpack my room and settle in to my new city. But I also want to use the time to get back to a good fitness routine, especially since I missed two runs during the past week. Eek. Here's the tentative plan:

Workouts

Monday: First rec league volleyball game!; 
Tuesday: 3-4 mile tempo run
Wednesday: Barre 101 Class
Thursday: 3-4 mile easy run
Friday: Zumba? 
Saturday: Slow 5 miles run
Sunday: Yoga Class?

Q: How was your weekend? Any advice for things to do your first week in a new city?

8 comments:

  1. Thank You for my first introduction to Santa Barbara! It looks fabulous! Can't wait to see more!

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    1. Thanks Lacey and Meranda! Hopefully will have more fun things to share soon :)

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  2. Your new city looks beautiful! Enjoy!! And Mexican food is my favorite :)

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  3. What a beautiful place. Look forward to more posts about Santa Barbara. :)

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    1. Thanks Patty! Hope to have more for you soon :)

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  4. I've never been to Santa Barbara - looks beautiful so far! The tacos looked amazing! I imagine you'll eventually get up to norcal for the wineries - so fun :)

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    1. Yea I love wine! Definitely want to do wine country around here as well as Sonoma :)

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