Santa Barbara We left San Francisco and headed down the coast, along the Pacific Highway. The journey was about 5 hours so we were at Santa Barbara by about 2pm. While some headed to the beach, Jo, Lee and I went for the shops. Our shopping in San Francisco so we decided to make up for it here. We found Macy's and spent a good few hours in the department store before leaving with purchases. There was time for a quick wander back up the main street and on the beach before we had to reboard the bus to go to our hotel. We had dinner at the hotel and then the group went bowling. We had a lot of fun and then it was on to a bar for a while before bed. Santa Barbara was a real beach community, one of those more upmarket ones that you hear about. I really liked it because it was very relaxed and had a nice atmosphere about it.