California Weekend Getaway: Buellton Beyond Pea Soup

What is Buellton known for?  A lot of people know Buellton as the home of Pea Soup Andersen’s, a favorite California road trip stop for families with kids.  In fact, Pea Soup Andersen’s is pretty much responsible for putting Buellton on the map.  Wine fans know Buellton for being part of the Santa Ynez Valley Central Coast wine region made famous in the movie Sideways (a movie I will never forgive for being so detrimental to Merlot).  In our never ending quest for unique California weekend getaway destinations, we decided to give Buellton a visit for Romeo’s birthday weekend.  What we found was the quintessential small town with super friendly people, gorgeous natural surroundings, good restaurants, wineries, and distilleries, and fun things to do and see.  Buellton is also incredibly dog-friendly, which meant Rome could spend his birthday weekend on vacation and with our furry children.  Top that off with glamping (glamorous camping) in a luxurious safari tent and you’ve got a California weekend getaway that’s pretty hard to beat. 

I usually leave the hotel suggestion and review until the end of an article, but glamping was truly the highlight of the trip.  I’ve wanted to go glamping since I first saw the Real Housewives of Orange County do it in 2012.  Of course, if the Real Housewives did it, that meant glamping would be at the bottom of Romeo’s list of things to do.  However, not only did glamping live up to everything I hoped it would, Romeo was crazy for it too, neither of us wanted to leave, and there may have even been a completely impractical discussion about building our own safari tent in our backyard for rainy or hot nights.

Flying Flags RV Resort & Campground is not your typical campground.  It is really, really nice.  Most of the RV resort is set up for RVs, as the name implies.  RV pull-through spots have strips of lush green grass next to them and there are lots of trees, so the entire park feels green and fresh.  But Flying Flags isn’t just for people who bring their own living quarters with them.  Flying Flags RV Resort & Campground also has unique accommodations like cottages, vintage trailers, airstreams, and luxury safari tents.

Flying Flags’ safari tents are the newest addition to their accommodations lineup.  The safari tents are in their own little, fenced area.  We were greeted by a rhino statue at the entrance, which was the first hint to the African theme.  Each tent is named with an Africa inspired name like Nile River and Tanzania. 

The safari tents are huge!  We had a comfy king size bed, a long leather couch, a coffee table, a writing desk, and two stuffed chairs in addition to bedside tables and a lamp.  The desk is equipped with a toaster, coffee maker, coffee press, mugs, glasses, wine glasses, and silverware.  Hidden on the shelf of the coffee table are plates, placemats, and cooking pots.  Each safari tent has a covered front area with two Adirondack chairs and a covered back patio area with a dining table.  Also in the back is a built-in grill, sink, and countertop.  Fences between the safari tents add privacy.

The safari tent is built on an above-ground platform and there is a tin covered wood roof overhead, so when it rains you are full protected.  We loved lying in bed at night and hearing the rain tip-tip-tap on the roof while frogs croaked in the distance.  The safari tents also have a heater/air-conditioner to keep your tent at the perfect temperature.  The tents don’t have bathrooms, but bathrooms have been built nearby.  Each bathroom is private with its own toilet, sink, and shower stall.  The bathrooms are also climate controlled so it is toasty warm when it is time to take a hot shower. 

Flying Flags RV Resort & Campground provides all sorts of amenities for their guests including a swimming pool, hot tub, restaurant, gas fire pits, and an outdoor gathering area called the Fireside Lounge. 

The resort is also very dog-friendly, including the safari tents, and they have an off-leash dog park too.

But enough about glamping.  Once you’ve torn yourself out of your safari tent, there are so many little things to do in Buellton that make this town special.

One hidden gem is Mendenhall’s Museum of Gasoline Pumps and Petroliana.  This is where hoard turns into historical archive.  The collection was started by Jack Mendenhall.  Jack Mendenhall lived in Buellton his entire life and had a car shop at the end of town.  In 1957, he bought the property where the museum currently stands and used it as a wrecking lot. 

Jack Mendenhall started collecting gas pumps and petroliana (collectibles relating to gas stations or the petroleum industry) in the 1960s.  After he sold his service station in 1978, he became a picker, going out on the road for three to four months at a time selling signs during the day and picking at night.

Jack’s son is a contractor by trade and built all the buildings on the property to properly house all of the memorabilia his father had collected.  Now the 4,000 signs, 100 gas pumps, 37 neon signs, and 2,000 license plates are all organized and lovingly displayed in multiple outdoor rooms of this unusual museum.  Every sign, license plate, and gas pump has a story which can’t all be told in one visit.  There were a number of repeat visitors on our tour as people love the museum and know that they’ll see and hear something new every time they visit. 

The museum also houses the official Dry Lakes Racing Hall of Fame.  The museum is open by appointment only, and tours, which can be arranged via phone or email, take approximately two hours.  Since the museum is mostly outdoors, it is also dog-friendly to well-behaved dogs.

Another fun and unusual spot to visit is OstrichLand USA, which is on Highway 246 just outside of Buellton.  OstrichLand is open every day for visitors to observe and feed ostriches and emus.  It is pretty cool to get close to these animals and see how huge, strong, and prehistoric they are.  I would not want to come face-to-face with an angry ostrich! 

Visitors are given dustpans with feed bowls glued on so they can hold onto the handles while the ostriches and emus peck the food.  The key is to not be nervous and to commit.  Also, don’t make the ostriches and emus have to stretch their necks too much to reach the food.

In addition to the chance to see and feed the birds, guests can purchase ostrich and emu related items in the gift shop like ostrich eggs, jerky, purses, belts, and more.  OstrichLand USA is also surprisingly dog-friendly as long as dogs are well-behaved and won’t bark at or scare the birds.

Buellton is surrounded by the beautiful countryside of California’s central coast.  This year it is exceptionally beautiful because the El Niño rains have made the cow-dotted rolling hills many shades of green and, during the spring, covered with yellow mustard flowers. 

To get a sense of the land where Buellton is located, and also to see some of the vineyards growing the grapes used to make the wine you can taste at one of Buellton’s many wine tasting rooms, take a drive. 

We suggest heading out from Buellton along the 101 towards the coast.  Then follow Highway 1 north until you’re almost to Lompoc, then turn right on Santa Rosa Road and follow it back to Buellton.  The drive only takes an hour, though you’ll want to add in extra time to stop and take pictures.

Within Buellton, there is also an opportunity to commune with nature at the Santa Ynez Valley Botanic Garden.  The Botanic Garden is just a little space of land dedicated to flowers, plants, and trees with a pleasant walking path.  The garden can be found at the end of River View Park and is free and dog-friendly.

Buellton is known for wine, but they are starting to cover all aspects of culinary delights.  One of the best areas to experience all of Buellton’s taste gems is along Industrial Way.  Industrial Way is on its way to being Buellton’s Funk Zone, similar to the Santa Barbara Funk Zone, a place to enjoy wine, farm-to-table dining, confections, spirits, and more.

Michele’s Tesora is an artisan candy shop that just recently opened to the public.  Michele’s candies are delightful confections made with organic peanut butter, chocolate, organic brown rice crisps, and peanuts.  They sell five flavors: original, coconut, pretzel, marshmallow, and caramel (my favorites are the first three).  Tesoro means treasure in Italian and these bite-sized candies truly are little treasures.  Romeo says they are the best sweet thing he has ever put in his mouth. 

Michele used to make the original version of her treats for fun and would bring them to parties.  People started offering to pay her to make them.  She didn’t think this could really become a business, but her daughters encouraged her to take the leap.  She has now been selling her treats wholesale for three years and just recently opened up a store for the public.

Across the parking lot from Michele’s Tesora is Industrial Eats.  Industrial Eats is a farm-to-table restaurant serving local food sourced from the Central Coast.  In addition to the restaurant they also have a butcher shop.  Industrial Eats is one of the most popular restaurants in Buellton and is busy all day long.  The menu is featured on butcher paper hanging from the wall and changes frequently.  There are two wood-burning ovens in the back of the restaurant where they make pizza to order.

If Industrial Eats is crowded or you want to dine with your dogs, the best thing to do is to place your order and ask them to deliver it next door to Alma Rosa Winery.   Then you can enjoy wine tasting or a glass of wine with your meal.  Also, since Alma Rosa Winery doesn’t serve food, they are dog-friendly both inside and outside.

The Alma Rosa Winery tasting room brings a natural feel to its urban setting.  An olive tree stands in the middle of the tasting room and wood tables have rock filled bases.  They have a number of wines to taste.  My favorites include the Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, and an anniversary blend, all made from grapes grown in the nearby Santa Rita Hills.

In the same building as Michele’s Tesora, just around the corner, is Brothers Spirits, one of Buellton’s craft distilleries.  Jay Lockwood is the master distiller of Brothers Spirits, but the idea of the craft distillery was that of both Jay and his brother Jeff, who is a local winemaker.  Brothers Spirits makes Vodka, a sipping vodka that is like liquid velvet and is made with Albariño grapes, Tegave, which can’t be called tequila since it is made in the US but is made with 100% blue agave grown in Jalisco, and Limoncello, made with Granache grapes, filtered through crushed coconut shells, and infused with the zest of organic lemons.  Brothers Spirits will also be releasing a Mesquite Smoked Malt Whiskey.

Farther down Industrial Way is Terravant Wine Company.  Terravant Wine Company is a commercial wine making operation churning out a half million cases of wine a year.  They are also the home of the other incredibly popular restaurant in Buellton, Terravant The Winery Restaurant, and the wine tasting wall, which has 52 bottles available for tasting.  For wine tasting, you get a card which you insert into the wine wall and pour your own wine.  You pay by volume and can fill your glass with as much or as little as you want.  Terravant is one of the first restaurants to feature one of these wine walls, which have air pressure control so the wine stays fresh.

Next door to Terravant is Ascendant Spirits, which was the first craft distillery to open in Santa Barbara County since prohibition.  Ascendant Spirits makes 11 spirits including four vodkas, one gin, one corn whiskey, three bourbons, and two moonshines.  Ascendant Spirits likes to play with flavors, like using organic strawberries in their American Star Strawberry Vodka and Pink Lightening moonshine, limes from Goleta in their American Star Caviar Lime Vodka, and ghost peppers in their American Star Ghost Chili Vodka.

Not far from Industrial Way is another of Buellton’s wineries, Standing Sun Wines.  In addition to their wine, they are known for their concerts.  We thought a concert at a winery would be a fun way to spend an evening, but we were surprised by the high caliber of musicians Standing Sun Wines brings in for the citizens of Buellton.  We learned later by talking to some locals that Standing Sun Wines has a reputation for introducing some really great musicians to the town.  We left Standing Sun Wines with not only the memory of great wine, great food from a food truck, and great music, but also three CDs from two new favorite bands Chi McClean and The Far West.

Another great thing about Buellton is the small town restaurants that have been around for years where one of the main ingredients of the food is love.  We visited two such places for breakfast. 

The first was Pattibakes, which Patti Wicks opened 20 years ago in September.  During the week, Pattibakes is open for breakfast and lunch, but on the weekends the employees get a break and they close early, so they’re only open for breakfast.  On the weekend, Pattibakes serves breakfast sandwiches, crunchy toasted bread filled with fluffy scrambled eggs.  Mine had a southwestern flair with avocado, chipotle mayo, and melted cheese while Romeo’s had ham, tomatoes, and melted cheddar.  What Pattibakes is really known for are baked goods like cakes, muffins, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, and cookies.  I had been told to try the carrot cake cupcake, so I took one to go and later enjoyed it while wine tasting at Alma Rosa.  If you like carrot cake, do not miss out on Pattibakes’ carrot cake cupcakes.  Pattibakes has outdoor tables on the covered patio, so is dog-friendly year round. 

The other family-owned restaurant in Buellton that we visited for breakfast was Mother Hubbard’s Restaurant.  Mother Hubbard’s has been serving Buellton for almost 40 years, though the current family has “only” owned it for 17 or so.  Owner Doniece Parson is a fixture in the restaurant.  She knows everyone, or gets to know them, and is constantly moving around checking on everyone and making sure they’re happy.  Mother Hubbard’s serves old-fashioned favorites, but some with a twist.  For instance, I had the Hubbard Benedict with bacon, poached eggs, and a red pepper hollandaise sauce on top of flaky country biscuits.  Rome had the corned beef hash, a recipe that the Parson family has perfected over the years.  They brine the beef in their wood walk-in refrigerator for seven to ten days.  They cook the corned beef the day before they plan to serve it, and then they shred it the day of serving.  I’m not sure this is the best description, but it kind of tasted like shredded charcuterie, perfectly salty and packed with meaty flavor.  There are a couple tables outside for dog-friendly seating.

One final thing you have to do on a weekend trip to Buellton is to have a bowl of split pea soup at Pea Soup Andersen's.  As a kid, we always stopped at the Pea Soup Andersen’s in Santa Nella during our summer road trips and I have very fond memories.  The original Pea Soup Andersen’s is in Buellton, and Pea Soup Andersen’s is responsible for putting Buellton on the map.  Denmark-born Anton Andersen and his wife Juliette bought the land and opened the restaurant over 90 years ago.  Juliette was from France and she is responsible for the split pea soup craze.  Juliette’s split pea soup became, and still is, the most popular menu item.  Pea Soup Andersen’s is a casual diner, the food isn’t fancy, and honestly the other restaurants mentioned in this article are better, but Pea Soup Andersen’s is such an institution and so important to the town of Buellton, it has to be given the respect it deserves.  But stick to the split pea soup.

When our California Central Coast weekend getaway to Buellton was over, I was about ready to move there.  We loved the small-town attitude where everyone knew each other, liked each other, and looked out for each other.  The surroundings are breathtakingly beautiful and it feels like being in the country, yet the ocean is just a few miles away.  Add the food, the wine, the spirits, the candy, and the fun things to do, including some unique hidden gems, and you have a perfect California weekend getaway in the small package of Buellton. 

Thank you to Buellton Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau for hosting our trip and making this post possible.  As always, all opinions are our own.

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Santa Maria: A Secret Central California Weekend Getaway

As Southern Californians, we are constantly looking for new California weekend getaway destinations to explore.  We found one of Central California’s secret getaways in Santa Maria.  Santa Maria is probably more popular among visitors coming from other countries than among travelers living in the United States.  This is something that should change because Santa Maria is a quick California getaway with many varied attractions for travelers.  If Santa Maria is known at all, it is known for its wineries, but Santa Maria has so much more to offer including one of California’s best missions, farm-fresh produce, lip-smacking barbeque, hikes with stunning vistas, and quaint museums.

La Purisma Mission State Park

Missions are the oldest structures we have in California.  Just south of Santa Maria in Lompoc is La Purisma Mission, the most fully restored of California’s preserved missions.  The mission can be visited on a self-guided tour, but we joined the two-hour guided tour which is provided every day at 1:00 p.m.  We were surprised to find half our tour group was comprised of travelers from various countries in Europe.  Our guide explained that while Santa Maria is off-the-beaten-path for American travelers, La Purisma Mission is listed in guidebooks available to European travelers as one of the best California missions to visit.

Before the Spanish came, this area was inhabited by the Chumash Indians.  Chumash translates to “the people who make money” and they were called that because while other Native Americans traded goods, the Chumash created a type of money made of shells on a string.  The Chumash were also different from other Native Americans because they had ocean-going boats which they used to travel from the mainland to the nearby Channel Islands.

When Juan Cabrillo was sent from Spain to the Americas, he sailed up the coast from Mexico to San Diego, Santa Barbara, and beyond.  He found the Chumash Indians living their simple lives and reported back that there was nothing worthwhile in these parts.  No one came again to the area for 200 years until the Russians started hunting sea otters in Alaska for their pelts and began expanding down the coast all the way to San Francisco where they built a fort.  Worried the Russians would keep heading south, the king of Spain sent Catholic priests to set up missions.

La Purisma was founded in 1787 and was the 11th of the 21 Franciscan Missions in California.  The Chumash Indians were baptized into the Catholic Church and helped build the first mission.  In 1812, numerous earthquakes destroyed the mission and a new mission was built a few miles away, the current location.  The mission thrived and was known for its hides and blankets, but then the missions were discontinued and abandoned in the 1830s.  La Purisma fell into ruins.  In the 1930s, after the Great Depression, the government commissioned the Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service to restore the mission, making sure to restore La Purisma to exactly what it had been before.

Today, tours lead through all parts of La Purisma Mission including the cemetery, church, soldiers’ quarters, jail, weaving shop, padre’s residence, and outdoor areas.  If you can, try to join the guided tour where you will learn so much more about the history and workings of La Purisma Mission.   An added bonus is you’ll be able to ring the church bells, which you can’t do if taking a self-guided tour.  La Purisma Mission State Park is dog-friendly, including the guided tour, though dogs are not allowed into the visitor center museum.

Oso Flaco Lake Trail

If you’re looking for a pretty hiking trail during your Central California getaway, look no further than the Oso Flaco Lake Trail.  This unusual hiking trail follows a boardwalk that crosses the middle of Oso Flaco Lake and then heads through the dunes before reaching the Pacific Ocean.  The boardwalk trail is approximately a mile and half one way.  Set aside at least an hour and a half for the walk so you’ll have time to stop and enjoy the views.

The Oso Flaco Lake Trail is part of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes area, the most ecologically diverse dunes complex in California.  The dunes complex stretches from Pismo Beach in the north to Point Sal in the south.  The dunes are full of plants and animals, some of which are rare or endangered.

The waters of Oso Flaco Lake are filled with bluegill, hitch, largemouth bass, and goldfish.  Growing around the lake are examples of dune plant life such as Dune Buckwheat, Beach Bur, Arroyo Willow, Beach Saltbush, Sand Verbena, Dunes Paintbrush, Beach Evening Primrose, and Blochman’s Leafy Daisy.  Oso Flaco Lake provides great bird watching opportunities with American Kestrels, Barn Swallows, Ruddy Ducks, Cliff Swallows, Double Crested Cormorants, California Least Terns, Northern Mallard Ducks, Cinnamon Teal Ducks, Ospreys, and Brown Pelicans.

Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center

I love movies, especially old movies, so I’m always excited when one of my travel destinations has ties to a movie.  A number of movies have been filmed a few miles up the road from Santa Maria.  Movies that have been filmed at the dunes of Guadalupe and nearby include Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Hidalgo, G.I. Jane, Sahara, and many others.

The most interesting movie story from the area is that of the 1923 silent film The Ten Commandments.  Cecil B. DeMille directed this epic Hollywood film and built for it the largest set in movie history at that time.  Rather than the set being taken apart and carted away when filming was complete, DeMille decided to have the entire set buried in the sand of the dunes.  It became known as the “Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille” even though the people that lived in the area never forgot.

In 1982, Los Angeles filmmaker Peter Brosnan decided to embark on a quest to unearth the lost city as part of an idea for a documentary.  He began working with an archaeologist in 1990, but the project didn’t go very far because there wasn’t enough funding.  After a couple false starts some of the movie set was finally excavated in 2014 and is on display at the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center.

The Dunes Center museum has been open for almost 16 years.  The relics from The Ten Commandments comprise its most well-known exhibit, but also on display are exhibits about the Chumash Indians, who have been in the area for over 10,000 years, the natural aspects of the dunes, and the cultures of the residents of Guadalupe.

Rancho Guadalupe Dunes

After visiting the Dunes Center, head a few miles south and visit the Rancho Guadalupe Dunes to try to catch a glimpse of where The Ten Commandments movie set remains buried.  You can’t actually walk up to the dune, but you’ll recognize it because it’s the one that has a lot of debris.

Driving through the Guadalupe Dunes is kind of like driving through mountains of snow.  The dunes’ sand drifts across the road, almost completely covering the pavement in some parts.  While driving through the dunes, we passed an area that looked more like swamp land and were treated to the sight of some wild boar traipsing through the water.

If you visit the dunes between March and October, you will notice that part of the dunes are closed to protect the Western Snowy Plover, a tiny shorebird that weighs less than two ounces.  The dunes are where the plovers come to breed and nest.  If you walk along the beach you’ll need to keep your eyes open for nests in the sand and chicks on the beach.

Santa Maria Museum of Flight

Santa Maria has a small airport that is mostly for private planes, though two airlines run commercial flights to Santa Maria from Los Angeles and Las Vegas.  At the far end of the airport is a museum, the Santa Maria Museum of Flight, where we learned more about the airport, Santa Maria, and the eclectic mix of flight exhibits curated by Mike Geddry, a Vietnam vet who gave us an informative and fascinating tour of the museum (accompanied by his beautiful service dog Kayla).

The Santa Maria Airport was originally built as the Santa Maria Army Air Base to train bomber pilots for World War II.  The Santa Maria Airport is also named after Captain G. Allan Hancock who founded the Hancock College of Aeronautics which trained the army pilots.  After the war the airstrip eventually became a public airport. 

The Santa Maria Museum of Flight has been around for 31 years, but has been on the airport property for 27 years.  Part of the museum is housed in a wooden hangar that was created as a movie set for The Rocketeer.  In that building are model airplanes of all sizes, a costume from The Rocketeer, the museum’s library, and one of three still flyable 1929 Fleet Biplanes painted in the colors of Hancock College.

Outside are some more real planes including an F-4 Phantom, a homebuilt general aviation aircraft, and an airplane from World War II, though it never actually flew in combat.

Inside the second building of the museum are more airplanes, including a prop from The Aviator.  Other exhibits include a piece from the Challenger Space Shuttle, something I found moving as that may be the first disaster I experienced and comprehended as a child, and a section dedicated to The Ninety-Nines, an organization of women pilots founded in 1929.  Outside of the museum is a memorial garden celebrating The Ninety-Nines.

Santa Maria Barbecue

One of Santa Maria’s claims to fame is the Santa Maria Style Barbecue.  Barbecue is so important in Santa Maria they’ve even got an official Santa Maria Valley barbecue website.  Santa Maria’s barbecue roots go back to the mid-1800s when the Santa Maria Valley was filled with ranches.  Traditional Santa Maria Style Barbecue is tri-tip rolled in a mixture of seasonings and barbecued over red oak coals before being sliced and served in a French roll with fresh salsa.

My favorite classic Santa Maria tri-tip sandwich with fresh salsa was from the Filipino Community Center Barbecue Food Truck which can be found in the Smart & Final parking lot on South Broadway.  Since Romeo is Filipino, of course we had to patronize the Filipino food truck.  We also learned at the Dunes Center that there is a large Filipino community in the Santa Maria area.  The tri-tip is barbecued truck-side on the outdoor grill.  The food truck is a fundraising operation and proceeds go toward the Center’s building and scholarship funds.  We grabbed tri-tip sandwiches and fresh salsa to go and enjoyed them at our first wine tasting stop, Riverbench Winery.  There is nothing more perfect than sipping a glass of Santa Maria wine and dining on a tri-tip sandwich while sitting in the sun with views of the Santa Maria Valley vineyards.

Another place to get tri-tip sandwiches is Orcutt’s Old Town Market, a wine shop and deli that includes Santa Maria barbecue on the menu.

For fancier Santa Maria barbecue, head to Santa Maria’s fine dining establishments.  Romeo decided to go all out and get prime rib for dinner both nights.  Our first night we dined at Vintner’s Bar & Grill, a restaurant located inside the Radisson Santa Maria.  The second night we ate at the Garden Room Restaurant at The Historic Santa Maria Inn.  The Santa Maria Inn has been around since 1917 and has had many famous guests throughout history like Cecil B. DeMille, William Randolph Hearst, and Marilyn Monroe.  The hotel, including the restaurant, feels old-timey with wood paneling and paintings on the wall.  While Rome had the prime rib, I went for one of their other steakhouse specialties, the New York striploin with a cabernet reduction and bleu cheese butter.  Another plus for the Garden Room Restaurant is the dining area in the outdoor courtyard is dog-friendly.

Farm-Fresh Berries

Santa Maria is a small town surrounded by even smaller towns like Guadalupe, Orcutt, and Sisquoc.  Between these small towns are acres and acres of fields growing fresh produce.  As we drove through the fields we smelled the aroma of upturned earth and fresh-cut greens.  We spotted tractors and other farm vehicles driving through the fields and witnessed farm workers picking, sorting, and packing the harvest of the day.

A 2014 report from the California Strawberry Commission, as cited by the Santa Maria Times, states California’s strawberry farms grow 90 percent of the country’s strawberries.  Strawberries are a huge part of Santa Barbara County’s income, the county in which Santa Maria is located. 

While we were driving around we noticed a few fields marked with signs for Darensberries, one of Santa Maria’s strawberry growers.  We got to sample the berries from those fields when we visited Darensberries’ berry stand on the corner of East Betteravia and Nicholson Avenue.  The red, succulent strawberries being sold were picked earlier that day and were perfectly sweet and juicy.

San Ramon Chapel

The San Ramon Chapel became the first historical landmark in Santa Barbara County in 1966 when it was called the Benjamin Foxen Memorial Chapel.  The Foxens were an important family in the Santa Maria Valley (the main road is called Foxen Canyon Road).  The property was purchased by Frederick and Ramona Foxen Wickenden.  Three years later Frederick Wickenden sold 5,000 sheep to purchase the building materials for the chapel.  Fred Foxen, Thomas Foxen, and Chris Clausen built the chapel in 1875 and the remains of Benjamin Foxen were moved to the cemetery in 1876.  The chapel is now named San Ramon Chapel because it was placed under the patronage of San Ramon, the patron saint of farming and agriculture, in 1879.  The chapel is not always open, but it does hold services on Sundays and at other times visitors can walk through the cemetery and around the outside of the chapel.  

Santa Maria Valley Wineries

One of Santa Maria’s main draws is that it is wine country, so if you enjoy wine, a trip to Santa Maria would not be complete without making some stops at a few wineries.  Many of the wineries are close together on and around Foxen Canyon Road. 

We visited four wineries during our trip, all of which were unique.  Riverbench Winery’s tasting room is in a refurbished farm house that used to be part of a dairy farm.  Wine tastings can be enjoyed in the tasting room or outside on the lawn at small café tables.  Down the street is Rancho Sisquoc Winery, with a tasting room in a rustic looking wood cabin.  Nearby is Kenneth Volk Vineyards, where wine tastings are served in a warehouse filled with wine barrels.  Cottonwood Canyon Vineyard and Winery is a larger, brightly colored wine tasting facility complete with a wine cave which visitors can tour and where they can experience a barrel tasting.  All of these tasting rooms are dog-friendly.

Related: Tasting Santa Maria, a Central Coast Wine Region

Where to Stay In Santa Maria

This entire trip to Santa Maria all started because we were invited by Club Carlson to stay at our choice of any of their properties to help promote #AroundTheWorldIn75Days.  Club Carlson not only has a property in Santa Maria, the Radisson Santa Maria, it is also the highest rated Santa Maria hotel on TripAdvisor.  What makes the Radisson Santa Maria unique is its location along the Santa Maria airport and rooms that have runway views.  For more information, read my full review of the Radisson Santa Maria.

If you’re looking for an off-the-beaten-path California weekend getaway, consider heading to Santa Maria, a great destination for a quick getaway with a number of Central California attractions.  Santa Maria is a fun weekend getaway for history, hiking, and great food and drink.

Santa Maria is a great Central California road trip destination. 

Here are drive times from various nearby cities (without traffic):

San Diego to Santa Maria: 4.75 hours

Los Angeles to Santa Maria: 2.5 hours

San Francisco to Santa Maria: 4 hours

Las Vegas to Santa Maria: 6 hours

Thank you to Club Carlson and the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce Visitor & Convention Bureau for hosting our visit to Santa Maria and making this post possible.  As always, all opinions are my own.

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