For wine enthusiasts, however, there is a better way to get a taste of Santa Barbara’s locally aged wines.
The Firestone Vineyard was established in 1972 by the Firestone family composed of the legendary tire innovator Harvey Firestone, his son and the former US Ambassador to Belgium, Leonard Firestone, and Leonard’s son, Brooke Firestone. At present, Firestone Vineyard advances its acclaimed record for being the first estate winery in the County of Santa Barbara when Bill Foley acquired the winery in September 2007.

The Firestone Vineyard has two tasting rooms: the Santa Ynez Valley Tasting Room and the Paso Robles Tasting Room. Paso Robles Tasting Room in Paso Robles, which was founded in early 2007, is quite far from Santa Barbara. The Santa Ynez Valley is on the other hand located in Los Olivos, California, a few miles away from Santa Barbara County where the Inn by the Harbor hotel is located.
Surrounded by 500-acre estate vineyards, the Santa Ynez Valley Winery features its barrel cellar, fermentation cellar, crush pad, and bottling line as the processing equipments for vine to the bottle production. Recently, the winery remodeled and expanded its tasting room that displays its island bar and picture windows overlooking the estate vineyards and the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley.

The tasting room is open to the public from 10 AM to 5 PM daily, while tours are offered at 11:15 AM, 1:15 PM, and 3:15 PM. Each wine enthusiast is charged a $10 tasting fee, inclusive of a keepsake crystal logo glass from Firestone. Popular places where the tour guide could take you are the estate vineyards, the demonstration cork tree, and into the production of fine wine from vine to glass. With the tour comes a relay of the history of the winery, the Firestone story, and the like. The Firestone Vineyard also offers tours and tasting package deals catering to large groups, with a fee of $15 per person.

When you are at the Firestone Vineyards, you will definitely experience an exceptional alfresco picnic adventure while tasting a variety of delicately and deliciously preserved wines.

The 30-acre Santa Barbara Zoo was first established in 1963 by a group of dedicated community volunteers. The zoo was then and up to now a private non-profit corporation that preserves, conserves, and enhances wildlife through research, education, and recreation. Today, the Zoo has more than 500 volunteers and is recognized as one of the most beautiful zoos in the world. The Santa Barbara Zoo is strategically placed along Niños Drive in Santa Barbara – just a short drive away from the Colonial Beach Inn. The Zoo’s beautiful location is overlooking the Pacific Ocean and provides scenic views of the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Andree Clark Bird Refugee.

At the Santa Barbara Zoo you can choose from the many attractions to go to. It is home to many animals and even insects which are exhibited everywhere inside. The exotic wildlife that you see in magazines and in TV is brought to real life at the Zoo through the African Veldt, California Nature Walk, Cats of Africa, Channel Island Fox, Crawford Family, Penguin House, Elephant Walk and many more.
If you are fond of birds like lories and lorikeets, then you will surely enjoy feeding them at Lorikeets Landing. On another hand, you may also want to feed the Baringo giraffes at the Zoo. If you are afraid of feeding the live animals, you can instead enjoy riding on one of the hand-carved exotic animals on the Zoo’s carousel. Kids will definitely enjoy their visit when they get a ride on the carousel. And not only that, but the Zoo also offers another ride to visitors of this time, all ages. When you are at the Santa Barbara Zoo, do not miss out on the Zoo Train ride, which will take you around the Zoo’s perimeter for a more relaxed and fun way to look around. As you go around the Zoo, you can bring with you grilled dishes, sandwhiches and other tasty delights from the Ridley Tree House Restaurant, or if you want, you can also stay there to eat before you decide to go into your wildlife adventure around the Zoo.
The Santa Barbara Zoo is open to the public from 10 AM to 5 PM, except on Christmas. For $11, adults can enjoy the attraction that the Zoo offers, $9 for seniors and children from 2-12 years old, and free for children under two.

Plants and animals that make up the wildlife are becoming more and more endangered each day. We will definitely appreciate their beauty and importance and more importantly, learn how to preserve wildlife if we have a better understanding of it. At the Santa Barbara Zoo, you will learn not only to appreciate the beauty of wildlife but also to recognize the importance of it. At the same time, you will be having the time of your life with family and friends.

The botanic garden was founded in 1925 but was only named the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in 1939. It successfully preserved its cultural and architectural heritage as its rich legacy. Then in 2003, it was remarkably partnered with the community and the County of Santa Barbara Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission.

The native California plants that the garden exhibits are carefully and lavishly placed in beautiful landscapes that you will definitely admire. It also has a Garden Shop where you can find books, educational sources, distinctive gifts, and many more souvenirs from the garden. Educational classes are also offered by the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, for those who want to pursue their interests in Botany. It offers Botanic Garden Lectures, Seminars & Special Events, Botanical Arts & Culture, Botany & Natural History, Field Courses, and many others.

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden keeps a library that goes with its living collection and herbarium. Its collection serves as a resource and foundation for its education and horticulture and research programs. The garden’s collections displays over 1,000 taxa of plants all over the garden and over 15,000 books and journals in the library. The herbarium on the other hand features a collection of California’s preserved central coast plants which are composed of more than 140,000 plants specimens.

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is open to the public seven days week, with the exclusion of holidays. Admission varies according to the visitors’ age - $58 for adults, $56 for seniors, also $56 for students, children aged 13-17, and active military, all with IDs, $54 for children aged 2-12, and free for children below 2 years old. During weekdays at 2 PM and weekends at 11 AM and 2PM, the botanic garden offers guided tours for its visitors.

With the widest collection of plants in Santa Barbara and whether for learning, research, or exploration and just looking around, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is surely a perfect place for everyone to see.

The Circle Bar B Guest Ranch, as it started out, was a different Circle Bar B Guest Ranch from how we know it today. However, as early as when it was built on an initial 60-acre property (which is owned by Florence Brown and her friend Ed Randolph) in 1939, it already had a few guest ranches and additional guest cabins in the 1940s. Brown purchased additional acreage in the years that followed and built more buildings with better guest facilities. Gradually, the Circle Bar B Ranch became a popular destination for families who want to experience a different kind of vacation.

Main attractions inside the coastal mountain paradise include the newly-renovated Main Lodge, Game Hall, Meeting Room, and some new cottages at the creekside and the hillside. There are lots of must-do’s to choose from while you are at the ranch. You can go horseback riding at the scenic Sant Ynez Mountains, hike with friends in the canyons and waterfalls, take a dip by the pool, or simply hang out or have a cup of coffee in one of the cabins at the ranch.

You can experience quiet, relaxing moments and see the coastal mountain beauty of the ranch, with Circle Bar B’s great deals. Starting with $95/head, you are given a package deal that includes free accommodation in either a Private Cabin or Deluxe Ranch Room and free breakfast and dinner. For the more outdoorsy vacationer and for those more fond of horseback riding, the Circle Bar B Riding Stable is readily available. The Stable is considered the oldest and best public horseback riding stable in Santa Barbara. It offers horseback riding programs for all riding levels in all ages.

With its scenic views, friendly staff, healthy and delicious cuisine, deluxe accommodations, and a peaceful ambience, the Circle Bar B Guest Ranch is a perfect getaway for couples on honeymoon, vacation spot for family reunions, and an excellent place for corporate retreat. With the activities that the ranch has to offer, you and everyone in the group will never run out of things to do.

S.B.S.A. is aiming to make Santa Barbara a place recognized as a tourist destination for the arts. The art studio is a non-cemmercialized organization built by a group of professional fine artists. These professional fine artists are in charge of the studios which are open for public viewing, with an appoiontment beforehand. So if you are staying in a Santa Barbara hotel, you can make a call first for an appointment to go to the gallery. Every artist has his/her own studio which you are free to visit after making the appointment with the artist. All the artists of S.B.S.A. live and work within Santa Barbara, California.

If you are on vacation especially on Labor Day, you can catch the annual studio tour. S.B.S.A. holds the yearly-anticipated Labor Day Weekend Open Studios Tour for The Arts Fund’s benefit. Since 2001, every Labor Day Weekend has included this activity by S.B.S.A. In the tour, you can find great galleries of award-winning visual artists, with their collections of their masterpieces such as abstract, landscape, and contemporary paintings, and so on.

The Open Studios Tour begins at 11 AM and ends at 5 PM the Saturday and Sunday of every year’s Labor Day Weekend. There is also a gala reception with the studio artists every Friday at 6 PM. Tickets can be bought at the studio entrance, with a $20 for adults and free for children below 12 years old. A ticket is inclusive of brochures, a map to artists’ studios, and access to the gala reception and the art exhibit of all artists.

The talented artists of S.B.S.A. include DorothChurchill-Johnson, Karen Fedderson, Francis Scorzelli, Peter Worsley, John Moses, B.J. Stapen, Rick Garcia, Peggy Ferris, Liz Brady, Anna Griffin, Thomas Mann, Barbara Baker McIntyre and many more.

The annual studio tour attracts more and more Californian art lovers every year with the great art that it boasts of. When you are in Santa Barbara for a vacation, this is something you should not miss. You will surely be satisfied if you experience the wonderful art of the talented people of Santa Barbara County.