Sights in Santa Barbara
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Santa Barbara Zoo
Big cats, monkeys, elephants and giraffes await at the 500-animal Santa Barbara Zoo , where you'll also find beautiful gardens. The Humboldt penguins are the current stars, and these tuxedoed show-offs seem to know it. If you're in need of a giggle, hit the 'Eeeww!' insect exhibit. Its hissing cockroaches and giant African millipedes will leave you giggling at the grossed-out kids. Or deeply disturbed. Parking costs around US$3.
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Mission Santa Barbara
The 1786 Mission Santa Barbara, nicknamed California's 'Queen of the Missions, ' was the only one to escape secularization under Mexican rule. Look for Chumash artwork inside the vaulted church and a moody cemetery out back.
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Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Downtown, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art has a well-edited collection of contemporary California artists, modern masters, like Matisse and Chagall, and Asian art. It also puts on sophisticated special exhibits.
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Lotusland
Book ahead for Lotusland, the legacy of eccentric Madame Ganna Walska; two-hour walking tours take in rare botanical species.
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Channel Islands National Park
The Channel Islands is an eight-island chain lying off the coast from Newport Beach to Santa Barbara. The four northern islands - San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and Anacapa - along with tiny Santa Barbara island 38mi (61km) west of San Pedro comprise the Channel Islands National Park. The islands have unique flora and fauna and extensive tidepools and kelp forests.
Here you'll find almost around 150 plant and a few animal species that are not found anywhere else in the world.
On Anacapa, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa are several snorkeling, diving, swimming and kayaking opportunities among the kelp beds and sandy beaches. San Miguel and Santa Barbara are host to colonies …
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Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum
The free Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum is an embarrassment of riches for history nerds, science geeks and music lovers. Filled with historical written artifacts from the private collection of David Karpeles, a Santa Barbara real-estate investor, it's a true SoCal treasure.
One of just eight Karpeles manuscript museums in the country, this branch houses the original proposed draft of the Bill of Rights, an Emancipation Proclamation Amendment signed by Abraham Lincoln, and Einstein's description of the theory of relativity. A recent special exhibit highlighting historic women contained writings from Lucretia Borgia, Catherine the Great and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Lots o…
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Museum of Natural History & Gladwin Planetarium
While the permanent exhibits lack the 'hands-on' sparkle of many children's discovery centers, the Museum of Natural History boasts a few noteworthy gems and typically stages excellent special exhibits. Bug buffs should check out the glass wall holding 4,000 mounted Santa Barbara insects, as well as the replica of a pygmy mammoth skeleton unearthed on Santa Rosa Island in 1994. Outside you'll find the complete skeleton of a 72ft blue whale.
Kids especially will like the Gladwin Planetarium , which has intro-to-astronomy shows for children as well as adult programs that explore current scientific theory; call for show times.
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Ty Warner Sea Center
The Ty Warner Sea Center is part of the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum. This is a great place for kids: the staff here is so engaging and enthusiastic, your child will be contemplating a career in marine biology in no time. From touch-a-shark water tanks and crawl-through aquariums to whale sing-alongs, it's interactive, educational and plain old fun.
The Sea Center also has opportunities for volunteers - from a few days to a week - so if oceanography's your thing, give 'em a ring before you arrive.
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Stearns Wharf
The southern end of State St gives way to Stearns Wharf , a rough wooden pier with a few snack and souvenir shops. Built in 1872 by John Peck Stearn, it's the oldest continuously operating wharf on the West Coast. During the 1940s it was owned by Jimmy Cagney and his two brothers. Partly destroyed by a 1998 fire, it has now been restored. Parking is available for around US$2 per hour, with the first 90 minutes free with validation.
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Carpinteria State Beach
Mile-long, family-friendly Carpinteria State Beach is great for swimming, wading and tidepooling. It's often referred to as the world's safest beach for its calm waters. Parking is available for around US$8.
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County Courthouse
The Spanish-Moorish revival style county courthouse is an absurdly beautiful place to be on trial (or get married). Marvel at the hand-painted ceilings and intricate murals.
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Santa Barbara Maritime Museum
The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum celebrates the town's briny history with memorabilia, hands-on and virtual-reality exhibits, and a movie theater.
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El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park
Built to protect the missions between Monterey and San Diego, this 18th-century former Spanish fort of the El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park was protected by adobe walls nearly 4ft thick and more than 9ft high. But its purpose wasn't solely to protect - the presidio, which recently celebrated the 225th anniversary of its founding, also served as a social and political hub, and as a stopping point for traveling Spanish military.
Today, the small urban park, between Anacapa and Santa Barbara Sts, harbors some of the city's oldest structures, which seem to be in constant need of propping up and restoring. Be sure to stop by the chapel: its interior is radiant …
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La PurÃsima Mission State Historic Park
Follow Hwy 246 about 15 miles west of Hwy 101 to La PurÃsima Mission State Historic Park. Completely restored, it's one of California's most evocative Spanish-colonial missions, with flowering gardens, livestock pens and adobe buildings.
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Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
Uphill from the mission, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is devoted to native flora.
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