Santa Barbara, the best of California

Santa Barbara

Southern California is blessed with beaches up and down the coast so you have many options for a quick getaway. One of my favorite day trips is to Santa Barbara(bahr-bruh). It’s only ninety(nahyn-tee) miles and takes about an hour and half from Los Angeles without traffic. So it’s close enough to be able to take the kids on a road trip or a great place to plan a wedding(wed-ing).

There are many different ways to get to Santa Barbara; train, bus or car. With popular(pop-yuh-ler) beaches, you should arrive early to get a good spot on those hot summer days.

Santa Barbara has everything from beautiful cafes on the coast to wine tasting and olive farms to enjoy. There are more than 15 wine tasting rooms including Au Bon Climat, Margerum, and Kunin to sample within walking distance. For those warm nights, you’ll probably want to enjoy a meal on a patio breathing in the fresh ocean(oh-shuhn) air.

After dinner you can take a long stroll(strohl) on State Street, a frequent spot for University of California at Santa Barbara college students.  State Street is one of those great blocks that you will never forget with small fun shops in artistic overtones to fancy restaurants and loads of great shopping. And don’t forget to sample the many different varieties of local olives that Santa Barbara is famous for.

For the athletic(ath-let-ik) in mind there are always bikes or kayaks(kahy-aks) to rent. The beautiful beaches are filled with green grasses and lots of space to spread out. There are bike paths along the coast. For the brave since Santa Barbara is surrounded by Islands, there is kayaking, these islands can be visited by boat or kayak and offer a fresh and exciting time.

For those that love flowers and gardens you should not miss the Santa Barbara Botanical(buh-tan-i-kuhl) Gardens. With more than 5 miles of trails and 78 acres of wildlife to see it is a sanctuary that should not be missed. Where else can you go from Redwood Forests to Yucca plants?

Santa Barbara is also filled with many great farms(fahrm) who join together at the weekly farmer’s market to show off their latest wares. You can find everything from fresh olives to fresh cheeses to organic(awr-gan-ik) produce—great for those snacks later on.

For those that rather wheel around you can easily rent bicycles for the day. You can ride up and down the Pier(peer), then up to State Street and back down to ride up the coast on a beautiful path. You can stop for lunch at The Shoreline park, a long beach of land overlooking the ocean or ride all the way to the Mission(mish-uhn) rose garden with plenty to explore.

If sailing is your passion, don’t forget to visit the Santa Barbara sailing center, there you will find a helpful staff that can direct you to a variety of guided tours and maps explaining the rugged coast. 

Santa Barbara is full of galleries and plenty of folk(fohk) art. There are pottery stores and lots of artists. And if you want to visit a great museum there is also the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the historic Courthouse to visit.

Finally, for dinner, there are so many great restaurants to choose from, but I just gave up and went to one of my favorite places, the Santa Barbara Shellfish(shel-fish) Co. on the pier. It may look touristy and its upscale, but the food and service is excellent and the giant fish tanks are fun to look at.

So for your next day off, pack some sun lotion and, take a drive to Santa Barbara, it’s just a few hours away and it will seem like another world(world), for all the family to enjoy.

Magical thinking by Mitch Rubman

George Gmelch in his article Magical(maj-i-kuhl) thinking does an excellent job of outlining the many different aspects of rituals/routines and magical thinking. Since baseball has so many different players from a multitude of cultures it is an excellent example of various rituals and habits that can easily be observed and documented. The baseball player that never shaves on a game day or the player that eats chicken before every game is an example of rituals that are so important to the individuals that forgetting or missing them can easily explain a bad game day. It might have started as a routine, but now it’s a ritual and can’t be lost for fear of predetermined failure.

There are taboos(tab-bu) that will also explain a lousy day or game. If the pitcher must step on home plate before going to the field then if he misses that, the sense of doom is apparent and expected. I have friends that have rituals like, never shaving before an exam. A good friend of mine always wore his “lucky sneakers” on the day of a test. I sat next to him once during a big math test, when I asked him before the test where his lucky sneakers were, he then realized he had forgotten them, he was so worried that he got up and left, telling the teacher that he had a terrible headache and rushed out saying that he needed to take it the next day.

Another friend has to listen to talk radio(rey-dee-oh) to sleep peacefully; she believes that by listening to the voices it magically calms her inner spirit into sleeping. For myself, I have to wear my lucky tie during exams and interviews. It all started when I went to take my first exam in college, as I was leaving, my friend told me that he always wore a tie and that it seemed to help. Did I think why not? I knew it was going to be a difficult test and I could use all the “magical” help I could get. While taking the test I kept hearing in the back of my head, don’t worry I’m wearing a magical tie and when I passed the test, the ritual was created. I wore that specific tie for many exams and always did well, but then one day I didn’t do as well, I, of course, blamed the tie. I never wore that tie again, but changed ties and still no luck, in the end, I gave up on ties. It was my behavior and belief in magic that allowed me to wear that tie and to feel that somehow the magic of the tie would guide me through the exam. I’m still looking for another magical tie.


Most people in today’s society have some elements(el-uh-muh-nts) of magical thinking in their lives. For instance, it is rare to find a building with a 13th floor. Somehow the construction companies and building managers have all agreed that number 13 is an unlucky number. This is culturally based, as there is no question about it, so they eliminated that number. It’s evident that the 14th floor is the 13th, but no one talks about it. Talking about superstitions is taboo. Everyone knows that thirteen is an unlucky number. “See what happened to Apollo 13” for example, might be a remark they say. Be careful on Friday the 13theveryone says.  These superstitions are born out of an event or events, and over time become a standard of the culture and a taboo of that period.