This 4th of July weekend, Daniel (ze boyfriend) and I decided to do something different and head out of town for the holiday. A couple months ago we were brainstorming about where to go and it finally came down to Lake Tahoe and Santa Barbara. We have been to Lake Tahoe a few times and absolutely love it there but we wanted to try a new location so Santa Barbara it was 🙂 Finding a hotel was absolutely crazy – holiday weekend rates were going for $300-$500! (#canwenot) Soooo I decided to look into AirBnb and found the cutest garden bungalow in Westside!
Thursday morning, we packed up peaches (my white jetta), filled up the tank, and grabbed some Java Beach Cafe for the road! The drive was pretty painless – no traffic and a straightshot on 101 South. We made it there right around 3 and were pleasantly surprised to see this:
It was the cutest little craftsmen style bungalow I’ve ever seen! Needless to say, I was obsessed and wish we could somehow just transport it back to San Francisco 😉 The hosts were super sweet and the house was fully stocked with everything we needed. After we unpacked, we yelped some places to eat and ended up at Los Agaves. Definitely check this place out if you’re ever in the area, the enchiladas were amaaazing! I wanted to check out the beach after dinner so off we went and we stumbled upon this view:
Let me just tell ya.. I love the beach and I love sunshine. I know a lot of people say that but sunny beautiful weather just makes me so happy. I’ve been pretty depressed with the weather in San Francisco. Long story short, it’s been 60 degrees, foggy, and cold. A sunny weekend in Santa Barbara was just what I needed!
We had a lazy morning on Friday and slept in before heading to a coffee shop that Daniel had found on yelp (we are avid yelpers hehe). To break it down for you, we were only in Santa Barbara for 3 full days and we went to The French Press every morning. (It’s safe to say we’re obsessed).
It was the best vanilla latte I’ve ever had. No exaggerations! You also know I’m a sucker for a good pastry – so we tried their sticky bun, homemade biscuits, and the strawberry earl grey scone. And a quick Friday OOTD:
Dress: H&M Jean Jacket: H&M (old) Sandals: Ralph Lauren Bag: Coach
After some coffee and pastries, we headed to the beach to paddle board! It was our first time and so relaxing and fun. We weren’t able to take photos on the nice camera but you can head over to my Instagram to see me in action 😉 Later that afternoon, we strolled around State Street to do some shopping. It had every shop you could think of from H&M to Nordstrom to Free People. I loved that the city decorated the entire street with American flags for the 4th!
After I literally shopped til I dropped, we went home and had some dinner and watched Netflix in bed. I always appreciate being able to just relax and do absolutely nothing together when we’re on vacation. Sometimes the daily work grind gets so crazy so it’s nice to just enjoy doing nothing with him 🙂
We had a super laid-back Fourth of July. After getting our morning coffee, we headed to West Beach to rent bikes to ride along the beach. This was one of my favorite parts of our trip! I love that literally everyone in Santa Barbara has a bike and rides their bikes their bikes everywhere. I can’t wait until we move back to Sacramento so that I can get my own beach cruiser!
Crop top: H&M Overall Shorts: H&M Tennies: Converse Shoreline Sneakers
We missed the big State Street Parade but we were able to see some awesome military aircraft that they displayed for people to check out. Daniel loves stuff like this so I’m glad we were able to catch them while they were still on the street.
We ended the night watching fireworks on the beach right next to the harbor. I’ve never been so close to fireworks! The city put on an awesome fireworks show that lasted 25 minutes – probably one of the longer ones I’ve seen. *cue Katy Perry’s “Firework” here* There’s just something about fireworks that is so fun and takes me back to being a kid. Such a great way to end our trip!
This was definitely our best Fourth of July yet. It was a long weekend full of relaxing, eating, exploring, and of course spending time with my favorite person in the world ♥ Hope all of you had a great 4th of July too!