Salty & Sweet Car-Free Travel

We had a fantastic car-free November. Metrolink saved us from sitting in freeway gridlock, and welcomed our bicycles and our dog on board.

Sweet Santa Ana

Our packing list was kept simple: We brought lots of lights for our bicycles, three headlights and three taillights each bicycle.  We had 2 rear panniers each bicycle and 2 front panniers for one bike and 1 dog carrier for the other bike. 
Instead of a purse, I brought my camera bag. I brought two hair bows, which ended up being used as a belt and neckerchief. I had a half-shirt that I wore underneath the dresses. I wore an extra dress and yoga pants on the way down there. I felt like a few things were missing, but we made it despite.

Thanksgiving day, we biked to family's house using the Peters Canyon Trail and the San Diego Creek Trail (10.5 miles mainly on the Mountains to the Sea Trail & Bikeway). It was a bit warm, and the ride felt long, but by the time we arrived we were so relaxed and ready to enjoy catching up with family.

Black Friday we walked to have brunch at the "Yellow Basket" at the corner of Main & Dyer while scoping out the bus and bicycle traffic. We decided to stay inside during the remaining daylight and take OCTA buses to access downtown Santa Ana.

Route 55 took us from Halladay & Dyer to First & Main. The bus fare was $2 per person, if we had planned on being on buses all day, we could have purchased a day pass for $5 per person. We walked West to Broadway and then North to 2nd St and discovered a Promenade (which is where we spotted the map & directory below). We saw Grand Central Art Center, which was not open, but we peeked in the windows. There was a fountain and a few trees were decorated with lights.

There was a cute roundabout at 3rd and Bush street, which isn't even visible on Google Maps Satellite View yet. The upgrade was paid for by Active Transportation (ATP) funds from the State of California.  I definitely felt safe walking there, there were very bright streetlights that had a vintage look and the few cars that were entering/exiting the parking lot were traveling very slowly. There were secure bicycle parking facilities called Bike Huts, which require monthly or yearly membership, probably installed to support residents of the lofts in the downtown area.

We walked East through the alley between 3rd and 4th streets past some gorgeous murals towards the Yost Theater. We encountered another fabulous Promenade called "Fiesta Plaza."

We gave in to temptation to do some shopping and entered R&R Western Wear 'Casa Del Sombrero.' There were the blingingest shirts, belts, boots, and hats that you can imagine! We picked up one belt and 6 colorful bandanas. According to Yelp, R&R has been in Santa Ana for 58+ years! It felt great to support a small business instead of heading towards The District at Tustin Legacy, which we assumed would be packed with people (and speeding cars).  It felt great to do some walking and not have to worry about driving/parking our car, which we couldn't have done anyway since we didn't bring it.

Exiting R&R Western Wear on the North we walked to the corner of 4th and French St to take some pictures with the large decorated Christmas tree at Plaza Calle Quatro. The appearance of some gentrification along 4th Street became evident as we passed Wursthaus and mLovewell and were chased by some people from the Santa Ana Restoration Church asking for cash donations.

We passed The Frida Cinema and ducked into the 4th Street Market to take advantage of the public restrooms and free smells. The market had a cool space on its North side that had what looked like a kid's play area, a DJ and a bunch of picnic tables. I wanted to go in and play with the oversized Jenga blocks and Connect 4, but it was getting late and we had Thanksgiving leftovers to eat back in our hotel room.

There were so many awesome shops, restaurants and cultural venues in Downtown Santa Ana that I could have stayed longer, but we decided to end our walking tour there and took the OCTA 53 bus back to Main & Dyer (the Yellow Hat). I would love to return to Santa Ana on the night of an Art Walk (First Saturday of each month from 6pm-10pm) or the morning of a Farmer's Market (Sundays 10am-2pm on 2nd St Promenade).

This walking adventure was inspired by Jonathan Gold's LA Times supplement on the 101 best restaurants in LA. As I was thumbing through the glossy food photos, a phrase caught my eye, "newish restaurant row in downtown Santa Ana" and it must have stuck in my mind because when we extended our Thanksgiving Trip by an extra day, I knew I wanted to explore the area.

We biked from our house to the Northridge Metrolink station along Reseda Blvd and Parthenia St (2.2 miles). We took Train 116 to LA Union Station at 2:52pm. We took Train 686 to Tustin, arriving after the sunset at 4:49pm. We biked along Edinger Ave to Kensington Park Dr to Valencia Ave to Tustin Ranch Rd to Barranca Pkwy which turns into Dyer Rd (4.2 miles). There were bike lanes most of the way. 

Coming home we took Train 663 from Tustin to LA Union Station at 12:25pm. We took Train 265 to Sylmar/San Fernando arriving at 2:46pm. We biked along Hubbard St to Laurel Canyon Blvd to Rinaldi to White Oak to Devonshire to Reseda (8.3 miles). If there were weekend trains on the Ventura County Line, we could have biked fewer miles. Parthenia and Hubbard are not great for cycling, they could be improved with bike lanes.

Salty Santa Barbara

Contrasting the Santa Ana trip with our other November travel adventure, where we visited my sister at UC Santa Barbara on Veteran's Day, downtown Santa Ana is humble in comparison to downtown Santa Barbara.  In both cases we stayed at La Quinta Inn & Suites, due to their welcoming pet policy.

We took our car with us to Santa Barbara because it's not yet possible to take dogs on Amtrak and Metrolink only goes as far North as Ventura. It would be possible (in theory) to bike from Ventura up to Santa Barbara (32 miles) but since our 10 mile bike ride was more grueling than enjoyable, I don't see us biking our dog and loaded bicycles against the ocean headwind anytime soon.

In Santa Barbara, we walked from our hotel to Cantwell's Market & Deli for provisions. We took a short dog walk along State St from Arrellaga St to Anapamu St. In a future visit, I would definitely explore more of State St on foot or on bikes.  The hotel had free bike rental, which we didn't use. We did a longer walk to the Mission Santa Barbara, about 1 mile from our hotel.  It was a great feeling to climb that hill and look out over the ocean imagining what it was like for early California settlers.

We did an epic walk from my sister's hotel to the UCSB campus.  We headed South on Storke Rd and then East on El Colegio to a bike path along Ocean Rd. We passed Pardall Tunnel on the way to a scenic overlook at Ocean Rd and Del Playa Dr. We ate at Dumpling King, avoiding large chain restaurants nearby. Making our way back to the Courtyard by Marriott on Storke Road it was about a 4 mile round trip walk.

I had never fully appreciated the "party school" reputation of UCSB until that moment. This walk was on Friday night, under cover of darkness. We saw students coming up from the beaches with surfboards and students playing beer pong on the lawns of Camino Pescadero. There were bicycles outfitted with cages navigated by older men for collecting the beer cans and bottles left behind by party-goers. There were many students walking from house to house, and others cruising through the neighborhoods on bicycles. A few young people drove through in cars, but they were severely in the minority. For how can one find the party by following the music when car engines interfere?

Another fabulous walk was had the following morning. We tried to rent free bikes from her hotel, but they had only 2 and couldn't locate them at 6am when we wanted to borrow them. My sister and I walked North on Storke towards The French Press, which unfortunately did not open until 7am on Saturdays. We headed West on Hollister Ave and then South on Santa Felicia Dr.

Just past Best Buy, we smelled something wonderful. We thought it was coming from Costco, but as we got closer to the big-box retailer, the smell went away. We turned Northeast and followed our noses to Anna's Bakery which opens at 6am seven days a week. We got coffee, doughnuts and breakfast burritos, all of which were heavenly and fresh. They had outdoor seating and a steady stream of locals came through for their morning fix.

We passed through Girsh Park on the way back to the hotel. Also noteworthy was "Ice in Paradise" a skating rink. Although it would have been great to explore Santa Barbara by bicycle, we sure did see lots of sights on our walks.

If we went back to Santa Barbara, I would know that there are buses that we could have taken from downtown (State St) to the UCSB campus. If Amtrak allowed dogs, or if we were willing to bike 32 miles and travel only on weekdays, we could have done that trip car-free.

In conclusion

It was great to spend time in cities (Santa Barbara, Santa Ana) that have invested in bike lanes and improvements to make pedestrians feel welcome. These cities are walkable and bikeable, as evidenced by the many cyclists and pedestrians we saw during the day AND at night. It was great to be a tourist in these cities and spend some of my hard-earned money on these unforgettable experiences at small businesses. The sights and smells from the plants and sea air are giving me the energy to keep going and finish this semester strong!