OT: Santa Barbara & California Housing For Cycle Trip

[19wisconsin64]

My wife and I live in Manhattan, and just had our first child....and seeing we have a few months off of work we are looking into renting a place near Santa Barbara for the month of March to cycle and hang out in the warmer temps with our newest cycling family member.

Is there some place we should be looking to find housing other than HomeExchange.com or Craigslist? We could swap our apartment or just rent a place for the month. It's just too cold to be pushing a baby carriage around NYC in the winter!

Any good ideas would be appreciated-there are lots of CA people on this forum. Thanks!

[SoCalSteve]

My wife and I live in Manhattan, and just had our first child....and seeing we have a few months off of work we are looking into renting a place near Santa Barbara for the month of March to cycle and hang out in the warmer temps with our newest cycling family member.

Is there some place we should be looking to find housing other than HomeExchange.com or Craigslist? We could swap our apartment or just rent a place for the month. It's just too cold to be pushing a baby carriage around NYC in the winter!

Any good ideas would be appreciated-there are lots of CA people on this forum. Thanks!

Santa Barbara is great for cycling, but you may also want to consider Ojai or Solvang. They too have great cycling and are smaller more intimate cities. All depends on what you are looking for.

Since Santa Barbara is right on the coast and Ojai and Solvang are more inland, the weather will be warmer during the day away from the ocean. Again, depends on what you are looking for.

All are great choices. Feel free to ask more questions.

Good luck!

[MattTuck]

What's your budget?

http://www.paradiseretreats.com

I've been ogling some of the houses on the site for years. Need to organize a big a group to go out though, as they're expensive.

[SoCalSteve]

What's your budget?

http://www.paradiseretreats.com

I've been ogling some of the houses on the site for years. Need to organize a big a group to go out though, as they're expensive.

Great homes in great locations. Cannot go wrong with any of those houses in those towns.

[Ken Robb]

You might also consider San Diego County. March is still at the tail end of "winter". There is a greater possibility of rain from Santa Barbara north since most storms form in The Gulf of Alaska. They usually weaken as they move farther south. There will be more direct flights too, though I guess you would fly to LAX and drive a rental car to Santa Barbara.

[eddief]

https://www.vrbo.com/

[cadence90]

Santa Barbara is great for cycling, but you may also want to consider Ojai or Solvang. They too have great cycling and are smaller more intimate cities. All depends on what you are looking for.

Since Santa Barbara is right on the coast and Ojai and Solvang are more inland, the weather will be warmer during the day away from the ocean. Again, depends on what you are looking for.

All are great choices. Feel free to ask more questions.

Good luck!
Excellent, excellent, and excellent.

You might also consider San Diego County. March is still at the tail end of "winter". There is a greater possibility of rain from Santa Barbara north since most storms form in The Gulf of Alaska. They usually weaken as they move farther south. There will be more direct flights too, though I guess you would fly to LAX and drive a rental car to Santa Barbara.
Also excellent.

Plus, in SD you can visit Bill Holland/Joe Bell. :beer:

[Steve in SLO]

On the flipside, Ojai and Solvang will be colder during the night and early morning than Santa Barbara will. Think near freezing at times.
Ojai has somewhat limited cycling routes, but is a cool tpwn. Santa Barbara is much more varied, as is Solvang. Los Olivos, a small town a few miles away from Solvang, and is also a nice base. Of all of the places, I would choose Santa Barbara for a balance of riding, family activities and natural beauty.
If you want you can hit me up once you have made plans and I will send you some routes.

[adamhell]

good ol santa barbara. too bad my friends there are too poor to even bother asking.

[mhespenheide]

If you come out this way, drop me a line if you want to ride in the Solvang/Los Olivos area.

March can be cold at night, typically warming up to upper fifties or even the upper sixties by the afternoon. It could rain but it's been pretty dry by March over the last few years. I can point to a couple of places near Los Olivos, if you like.

Cheers!

[ofcounsel]

OT.. I travelled to a meeting in Santa Barbara this morning. Seemed like a perfect day to take out my old 2001 M3 convertible, cruising up the 101 with the top down. Unfortunately, my cars temp gauge started hitting the "red zone" on the way to the meeting. It continued running hot on the way home, which apparanetly is not good for the engine. So I called AAA and had my car towed -- 132 miles -- back home. AAA covered my first 100 miles, I had to pay $250 for the remaining 32 miles :(

Santa Barbara is a beautiful town.

[19wisconsin64]

We plan on joining up with the homechange.com website, and otherwise keeping our options open. Trying to either exchange our Manhattan apartment or just rent it out for March and rent a place near Santa Barbara....maybe Pacific Palisades or something not too residential but sort of closer to the ocean.

I'll reach out to fellow members then to go for rides / get some route advice.

My wife works sometimes in LA, and we love it there!

Thanks again for all of the useful collective advice!! Cheers