In late November I took a little Mother/Daughter getaway trip with my mom, sisters and baby niece. We had such a relaxing trip to Santa Barbara and Solvang, California. We were in Santa Barbara for the day and then made our way to Solvang about 45 minutes away where we stayed. I’ll be sharing Solvang photos and details in another post.

Santa Barbara is always a beautiful place to visit, and I had not been back for almost three years since my wedding. My wedding post is here if you’d like to see some photos!

 Since at the time of the trip I was about 5 months pregnant, I didn’t have that much of my usual appetite, and my meals were pretty light. Because of that you won’t see too many food photos. My sister calls me a boring pregnant person because I have no cravings and I don’t have much of an appetite…Oh well! 🙂

We arrived in Santa Barbara in the morning and went straight to a breakfast spot in Downtown. We ate at Dawn Patrol. It is a cute restaurant in a great location, but I found it to be overpriced. I only had plain pancakes, but did not find them very tasty or fluffy. I also asked for some jam instead of maple syrup, and they literally gave me about one teaspoon of jam. My sisters both built their own hash, and they liked it, but like I said I felt it was overpriced for small portions.

However, once you are in Downtown there are lots of options for restaurants, and you can walk around and see the cute shops too. Next, we headed down to the beach and pier less than 3 minutes away.

 We drove onto the pier and parked there so we could walk around the shops, look out at the pretty views and of course snap some family photos!

How adorable is my nice in her little bear poncho?

 Then we decided to explore the Old Mission Santa Barbara, but on the way there, we spotted a fun looking park where my niece could play. It’s called “Kids World” in Alameda Park. I took a screenshot of Google maps in case you want to find it.

 We decided to stop and had a fun detour playing there. The park is so cool because it looks like a little enchanted forest where all the play structures are made of wood. It is a fun and free stop if you are traveling with children.

 Next, on the Old Mission Santa Barbara. I enjoyed visiting for the first time. I was able to admire the old buildings and learn some of the history associated with the mission.

I won’t try to narrate too much, but will let the photos speak for themselves because it is a lovely place.

Once we were done inside the mission we spent some time just sitting in the open field area in front of the mission. My niece had fun running around, and we all relaxed and took in the gorgeous views all around. I think this would make a great small picnic location.

 Lastly, we decided to drive back into Downtown Santa Barbara to get some smoothies for our drive to Solvang. My mom and sisters all loved their smoothies and I had a bright pitaya bowl which was excellent. Blenders in the Grass was a great smoothie shop, and I wish I had once closer to home!

And that was our super fun mother/ daughter day in Santa Barbara. We did a lot of exploring, sightseeing and took lots of selfies too! Smoothies in hand, we were off to our next adventure in Solvang.