California's Riviera

If you ever need to appreciate the good life that Santa Barbara has to offer, pay a visit to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It's like an underwater Chuck E. Cheese with $7 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches instead of pizza. The kids will love it all the same, and be begging for $36 stuffed animals souvenirs in short order, and you'll soon be looking upon that highway to heaven, the northbound Hwy 101, with renewed passion.

Although you'll be tempted to flee the City of Angeles as quickly as possible, we have found one pit stop worth making. Olvera Street's "La Golondrina Cafe" makes a roasted vegetable burrito that tastes like fiesta in De La Guerra Plaza. The guitars sold in the vendor stalls outside the Cafe--not so good (especially when you'll be stuck with said guitar and a 5-year-old child in a moving vehicle for the next hour AT LEAST), but Mr. Churro next door to Cafe--muy bueno.

Promptly after licking the last bits of cinnamon-sugar from your fingertips, return to your vehicle, point the nose northward, and count the minutes until the blessed Pacific Ocean comes into view.

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Montecito Mama

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