Yes, Santa Barbara is physically quite beautiful. My wife did a postdoc there six years ago, and I spent a bit of time visiting her there. The one problem is the people: the place is overrun with odious nouveau riche who treat the folks who work in shops and more generally any service industry (whether “Anglo”, legal Hispanic or illegal immigrant) like dirt. We once got stuck getting out of the airport behind a shrieking harpy (lawyer by her dress — tailored suit, coral ear-rings and matching necklace, briefcase) who kept insisting that the parking attendant get her car for her. The Santa Barbara Airport does not have valet parking.
Even when in California, I usually dress in a manner the could pass for East Coast or British old money slumming slightly
(tweed sportcoat, shirt and tie), and I’d resolved the next time I saw anything like that I would affect an even more pronounced mid-Atlantic accent than I actually have, and sneer “Oh! I see what I was told was true. Money and breeding don’t go together here!” loud enough that the moneyed lout could hear me.
I never got the chance. But my resolve holds, as I expect to get back sometime — the place really is beautiful. My wife and I want to fly into SB next time either of us has a conference in the Bay Area with enough lead time (which happens fairly often), stay a few days in SB, then drive a rental convertible up the coast highway.
Sounds like a fantastic game plan. Please do make it happen. We do this at least once a year and every time feels like the first.