N's birthday

It was N's birthday on April 1st (he's an April Fool), and his bday request was to spend the weekend in Santa Barbara. We went there with N's parents last year, and we liked it so much we've been looking forward to going back ever since. By the way--that gift I got N last year for his birthday? They're still sitting unused in their boxes. Maybe this public shaming will push him into using them ;)

We were much better prepared for Santa Barbara this time since we were more familiar with the city. We brought Stewie with us (of course), so I looked up a bunch of dog-friendly things we could do in addition to Arroyo Burro Beach, which is a spot we are absolutely obsessed with. And it was somehow even more fantastic than the first time we went! Lots of cute Stewie pics coming up...please click on them to zoom in; it's totally worth it!

 

Stewie LOVES-LOVES-LOVES running and blitzing all over beach sand. He's a speeding bullet!:

 

 Someone had constructed this little teepee-ish structure on the beach. It was the perfect size for Stewie:

In addition to the beach, there's a few other off-leash dog areas in Santa Barbara. One is called the Douglas Family Preserve, and it's located on top of the plateau that borders the beach. There's a couple small trails you can climb up to get to the top of the plateau, and there are unbelievable views where you can look straight down the sheer cliff edge to the ocean.

A trail on top of the plateau:

 

A view on top of the cliff in the background:

And the birthday boy sitting near the edge of the plateau:

We also walked up and down the length of State Street where we had dessert and coffee at a very cute Danish bakery called The Andersen. N wanted to eat seafood, so we got dinner at the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company which is located at the end of Stearn's Wharf. It was pretty quiet and dark and we ate at a table outside looking right onto the water. It was downright romantic! Except for the pieces of crab shell and whatnot that kept flying into our faces as we cracked through them.