"Relaxing" Weekend in Santa Barbara

Tax season is over! And I couldn't be happier! Of course I took April 16th off to celebrate, but that wasn't the only reason for celebration. Skyler got a new job, along with a promotion and a pay raise. We decided to spend the weekend in Santa Barbara to celebrate. In my mind I pictured lounging at the beach, eating good food, and reading a good book. Then I remembered who we are: triathletes. Our car was packed full of swimming, biking, and running gear. And let's not forget the four bikes that came with us too!




We stayed at the Fess Parker Doubletree Resort. I had a two-night-free voucher that we were able to use. I had no idea that it would get us the super sweet room that it did.

Saturday morning we were up early to meet up with the Santa Barbara Tri Club. We joined them on their group ride. The views were gorgeous!! I was taken back to Italy, riding through wine country. The ride ended with a pancake breakfast at the East Beach Grill. Surprisingly, this was my first group ride ever. I loved it!




Next on the schedule was a run along the beach. The weather was perfect for running, not too hot and no wind. We ran along the beach for a few miles and then headed back, but we stopped at the local community college's track to run the stairs in the stadium. (By the way, this is the view from our hotel room.)
The weekend ended with a mountain bike ride in Romero Canyon. We didn't have time to do a long ride, but it was fun to be riding a new trail together. The views were, again, beautiful!

Of course our trip included a trip to the local cupcake shop, Crushcakes. Check out my review.

Santa Barbara is a perfect city for triathlon training. If I was forced to live there someday, I would be quite happy. Traveling is one of my favorite activities and I'm glad I have such a great husband who loves seeing the world with me.