Happy Holidays from Santa Barbara

When you picture Santa Barbara, you probably think of palm trees and a beautiful sunny beach. Well, Trev and I found a new side of Santa Barbara this year and it was filled with holiday spirit. We started by heading to the pier to watch the holiday parade of lights.

Boats of all sizes, along with some kayakers and stand-up paddleboarders, were covered in shiny lights and decorations based on the parade theme "Starry Starry Night" (two boats even had Vincent Van Gogh's famous Starry Night print up as a decoration). The boats circled the pier. Many of the people on the boats were dressed up and spreading the holiday joy with Christmas songs. We lucked out with the best spot on the pier - right below the judges.

The parade of lights ended with a fun fireworks show over West Beach. We stood less than a 100 yards away from where the fireworks were launched and watched as they exploded close over our heads.

After the fireworks show, we hopped in our car and headed out on the holiday light tour. You can take this tour on one of the trolleys, but most of the tickets are sold out months ahead of time. So, we found an online website with step-by-step directions of the trolley route. We ended up catching up with the 8 trolleys and followed them through the neighborhoods. Many of the houses were beautifully decorated. Families came outside to wave. We even saw lots of Santas.

To view the full slideshow, click here: SB Holiday Lights Photos.

Happy holidays to all of you. We hope you have a wonderful, safe, and joyful holiday break with family and friends.

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Stay tuned for our Europe adventures as we head to Italy and France during winter break to celebrate our 5 year anniversary :)