Santa Barbara / Astoria excursion ideas

We are looking for things to do in Santa Barbara and Astoria other than wine tours. We prefer not to book ship excursions. We are a group of eight adults traveling together. We will be cruising the first week of October.

Astoria, small and walkable.

Trolley

Maritime Museum with lunch at the Bowpicker

Josephson's smoke house

Fire museum

Theater

Column

Lots of brew pubs

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i too would take the trolley or if the ship provides a shuttle a shuttle to the downtown area which is located around 1 mile from the port. It is a beautiful town and we did some of the items on SadieN's list including a visit to the Maritime Museum.

The locals in this charming town are some of the friendliest folks we have ever met.

We were just there a couple of weeks ago.

Keith

Astoria....there us a very nice trolley that runs down to the Maritime Museaum. You catch it very near the pier. It is a very nice place and it is worth the time. They show some videos on some of the rescues. We are not museum people by nature but did find this one very interesting.

You could also arrange for a rental car to drive down to Cannon Beach. This is a very nice quaint beach town with a number of good restaurants and nice shops. Fun place to just walk around. It's only about a block or so to get down to the beach. You would also be able to check out some of the Astoria historical spots.

Santa Barbara: visit the Mission, walk the waterfront (it is a nice park, too), walk the main streets of SB window shop. If you get hungry, find La Super Rica for yummy tacos, or head to the Wharf and eat at Brophy Brothers. Depending on the day you are in SB, you may find local artists and craftsman have set up booths along the waterfront walkway.

Or, you can rent a car and drive inland to Ojai (a nifty little artists colony).

In Santa Barbara one of the fellow passengers arranged an architectural walking tour of the downtown area. Was very interesting. We met in the downtown area. Minimal donation. May have been arranged through the historical museum. We took the waterfront trolley to the downtown area. Have some lunch in an outdoor restaurant. Some nice shops to look at. Took trolley back.

In Astoria we took a ship tour to Seaside and Cannon Beach. Walked to downtown after tour. We had rain that day so was kind of dreary. Of course the sun came out after we returned to the ship.

In Santa Barbara one of the fellow passengers arranged an architectural walking tour of the downtown area. Was very interesting. We met in the downtown area. Minimal donation. May have been arranged through the historical museum. We took the waterfront trolley to the downtown area. Have some lunch in an outdoor restaurant. Some nice shops to look at. Took trolley back.

 

In Astoria we took a ship tour to Seaside and Cannon Beach. Walked to downtown after tour. We had rain that day so was kind of dreary. Of course the sun came out after we returned to the ship.

Astoria: I did walk the town. Stopped off for lunch and a beer at The Wet Dog. I have a problem - I can't bypass a bar or restaurant with "Dog" in the name: The Wet Dog, The Black Dog, The Salty Dog, The Barking Dog…

Santa Barbara: if you are there on a Saturday or Sunday, the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara has architectural walking tours:

http://www.afsb.org/?page_id=79