A mere 15 miles north of busy Ventura is the much smaller and slower town of Carpinteria. Once we arrived and drove in we were quickly smitten.
We had found what we were looking for - a small southern coastal California town.
Not sure what was where when we pulled in, we stuck to the main strip. We parked on the street in a 90 minute zone and had breakfast. Then we went in search of the beach.
Walking down Linden Street - nicely lined with shops and restaurants.
Just a picture because we liked it - looked like it was in the middle of a reno.
Hard to get past flowers like these and not take a picture.
We knew that Island Brewing Co. was in Carpinteria but weren't exactly sure where. Imagine our surprise when we walked right past it. Pretty cool location right beside the tracks.
And on the other side of the tracks? A park! We made several visits here during our two day visit of Carpinteria.
Running right past the park is a boardwalk.
And across from that? The beach.
Carpinteria prides itself on having a downtown that blends into the beach. We LOVE that. A perfect set up - we bounced around from the beach to the playground all day. While Cassia and I were here, Derek went and moved the van closer - really close - in a no pay - no time limit spot. Can you get much better than that in Southern California - I think not! The locals of Capinteria are very fortunate to have such a quaint, pedestrian friendly, beautiful coastal town... we are putting it on our top ten list of favourite small towns.
Cassia with her first group of friends for the day. Lest anyone thing Cassia isn't getting enough 'kid' time in - she met and played with at least 6 kids or groups of kids during the day.
Derek's selfie while Cassia and I were out playing.
Island Brewing Co. opened at 2pm. - we went over to take a look around.
A super cool place and hang out! The perfect kind of place for us - near the beach - no television sets - just a place to sit - in or out - and drink great craft beer. Very friendly hostess as well, thanks Jenna.
Since Cassia made a new friend we decided to stay for a flight.
A nice selection - we enjoyed them all! Especially the Starry Night Nitro Stout.
Then it was back to the beach for the rest of the day until the sunset.
A nice beach walk was on tap. Cassia found a friend in the sea kelp.
As Derek and I sat and watched the sunset, Cassia found friends in two sisters from Colorado - that's them on the left.
A super - unexpected day. We headed back to the van for dinner and then back to Island Brewing Co. for the evening.
Since they didn't have the Blackbird Porter on tap - we shared a bottle.
We enjoyed meeting the locals - it was a nice evening.
With the brewery closing at 9:00pm we headed back to the van.
Since there were no signs to say that we could not overnight park on the street, we stayed where we were. All went well for the evening.
We spent the next morning back at the beach - of course. Another nice day.
Then we headed out. Santa Barbara was next up but in the end we decided to bypass it. Dare I say 'another big city'. I'm sure there would have been lots to see if we had stopped but instead we took the 154 up to Solvang.
Have you heard of Solvang? Been there?
We hadn't until we were talking to Chip and Lisa back at Barrio in Tucson. He'd been through and thought it was pretty neat. When we saw the pictures we thought it looked that way too.
That's up next.
Teresa
Have stayed at CARPINTERIA, CA twice in the past year. Feb 2013 and Nov 2013. Lovely little town. We used it as a base camp to see the mission in Santa Barbara which is very impressive, historical and beautiful. Enjoying your blog.
ReplyDeleteWe are leaving for the Fountain of Youth in Niland in the morning from Ladysmith B.C. Keep up the blog and the pictures are wonderful.
You are by the ocean and on the beach , gotta love it, have too much fun!
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