Windows

"This was meant to be," I told Dave. It was two days before our planned escape to Santa Barbara, and I had just attempted to secure the house we wanted to rent, only to learn it had been booked an hour earlier. My bad. So instead I scrambled to find us another place to stay, and we sort of stumbled upon this house that didn't have any reviews and hardly had any pictures. But on paper it sounded good, and the lady was willing to give us a last-minute deal, so...OK.

Of course Santa Barbara is amazing, and of course you can't go wrong there, but the house turned out to be this hidden little jewel that was the absolute highlight of the trip. It was up in the canyon, nestled on top of a steep, lushly terraced lot. The house was built in 1902 - as an artist's studio? - and the main room had the most beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows I've ever seen, with a view out to the ocean on one side and a view of the private lush backyard on the other.

There was a rope swing on a giant Mission fig tree in the front yard, and in the back there were two lounge chairs and an umbrella for total relaxation. It was absolutely an indoor/outdoor house (when we got there, all the doors and windows were open) - the most surprising aspect being that the refrigerator was not in the kitchen but on the deck outside. As weird as that sounds, the door to the kitchen was always open, and we ate outside, so it just made perfect sense.

Dave and I slept in the master bedroom (probably a later addition to the house) with not one but two doors leading outside (much to Dave's delight) and the boys slept in one big bed in the original bedroom, which also came with an enormous built-in cabinet filled with toys. Luke enjoyed looking for lizards in the backyard; Zach's favorite part was (of course) the water heater.

Oh, sure, we were tourists. We embraced our inner dorkiness and rented a surrey (without a fringe on top) and rode up and down the bike path at the water's edge. We went to three of the city's most amazing parks, one of which was featuring an international dance festival. And of course we went to the mission, although the chief attractions for the boys were the cemetery (Luke) and a fountain that just happened to have a dead fish in it (Zach). Zach dutifully clambered up the stairs to the main church, sat quietly as we reflected at the artwork, and then when we told him it was time to go, made a beeline back down the stairs and across the courtyard to go look at the dead fish again.

For Dave, one of the highlights had to be our trip to La Super-Rica Taqueria, a hole-in-the-wall place with no sign that is a Mexican foodie's delight, and a favorite of Julia Childs' when she lived in Santa Barbara. We took the insiders' advice and ordered as many dishes as we could contemplate eating (ask me for a rundown), then settled down for a long and satisfying lunch. We were planning on having leftovers, but for some reason (!) we barely had anything left to show for it at the end.

As for me, I was just happy being at the house and soaking it all in. Oh, well, there is one other thing: As we were leaving town, Dave offered to let me stop at the outlet stores while he and the boys played at the beach. So, yeah, THAT was cool. "What a beautiful town this is," said Zach. You got that right, kiddo.