Dog beaches, dog parks, and dog-friendly hotels and restaurants – there are plenty of these in the U.S. and we visited some of them when we were in Santa Barbara, California, in November 2022. One important tip – restaurants are allowed to have dogs only in patio dining area so if you’re bringing your dog along, travel when the weather is good enough for outdoor dining.
Heavy rainfall marked our 2 days in Santa Barbara. But we made the most of what we could.
Hotel
I had points to use with the Hilton chain so we booked two nights at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. The beach is an easy walk across the road from the hotel…but alas, rain upended all plans and we did not get to explore the beach much. Nomii our dog was welcomed at the restaurants onsite.
The Set, a bar and dining space, serves lunches and dinners. Nomii was able to be with us on his little mat and was largely ignored – which is not a bad thing. No water for him was offered but no one told us he couldn’t be with us either.
We had breakfast at The Roundhouse, another hotel dining space. Located near the pool, the dining area has a well covered outdoor patio, and allowed us to sit at a table within the hotel. Again, Nomii was welcomed and it turned out our server has a Boston Terrier himself. It’s always fun to bond with strangers over Nomii.
The food at both places was fine. It wasn’t mind blowing nor was it bad. What was most important was that we were able to dine properly with Nomii at our feet instead of having to pack meals and eat in the hotel room, and that was such a treat.
Dog Parks
In spite of the rain, we managed to visit 2 dog parks.
Woof P.A.C. Park
Because we had a 2 hour drive to our destination upon landing, we planned a dog park visit close to Santa Barbara Airport to give Nomii a chance to run, stretch his legs, and burn off some energy. Woof P.A.C. Park in Santa Maria was a perfect first stop.
The park is located on a little hill in a residential area and looked really good. We were excited walking up the slopes and because of our excitement, failed to read the body language of the two dogs that were already in there. They came running up to us and the owners said they were friendly, so we let Nomii off leash and off he ran.
However, it turns out that those two dogs were aggressive/reactive, and chased Nomii, with one almost nipping at his leg. Fortunately one of the owners had a tennis racket with him and he blocked his dog, and we managed to grab hold of Nomii, leashed him and walked out. I told the owners their dogs bite and we will wait until they’re done before we returned.
I guess they felt bad because they left not long after…and we had the park to ourselves.
We’re lucky Nomii wasn’t injured and we were kicking ourselves for not being careful. Dog parks have a bad name because owners don’t know or don’t manage their dogs well. We typically avoid dog parks but since we don’t have space for Nomii to exercise in hotel rooms, we typically will visit dog parks when we travel for the purpose of giving him a run.
Jody Giannini Family Dog Park
Located in the Morro Bay area, the Jody Giannini Family Dog Park is situated within a bigger park, the Del Mar Park. You’d need to walk a short distance into the park and then around the fence of the dog park to get to the gates. There’s a little bump of a hill in the dog park that’s fun for the dogs to race up and down on.
When we arrived, there were three dogs in the small dog section. This time around, we were much more careful and observed the dogs before going in. Two of the three dogs were reactive towards Nomii and so we walked away. However, their owners quickly told us they were leaving. The third dog seems fine and so we went in, let Nomii and the dog greet each other before letting Nomii off leash…and off they ran tearing up and down the hill after each other.
The owner of this third dog is a lovely lady. We chatted about life in California, where we’re from, Chinese food, and of course, her dog. It’s a pity but it seems she’s allowed her dog, a rescue, to boss her around. She says that if the dog is snuggling her and she moves thereby making the dog uncomfortable, he will nip her… But she doesn’t seem to be making any effort to change that so I guess she’s ok with it. *shrug*
This dog park isn’t fancy but it’s clean and there’s a working tap to provide drinking water for the dogs. Within the park near the car parking area are clean public restrooms for humans. And Nomii met a herd of cows.
Dog Beach
We visited just one beach – the Morro Bay Dog Beach – and wish so much we could have gone to more if the weather had been better.
The Morro Bay Dog Beach is apparently an off-leash beach but the dogs we encountered were all on-leash…which we much prefer anyway! It’s quite a workout walking on the soft sand from the parking lot to the actual beach but it was worth it. The beach itself is clean and a long, long stretch to walk on.
Nomii nosed the air, chased the little waves, dug in the sand and had a blast!
Restaurant
Well…like I said at the very beginning, patio dining isn’t available when the weather is cold. Many restaurants had already closed their patios. However, one afternoon, when the sun was unexpectedly Californian, we found ourselves at Taco Temple in an unplanned random stop for lunch. Turns out we chanced upon a hot local favorite!
We ordered the specials of the day – scallop tacos and a shells and chorizo soup – and both were excellent. The seafood was obviously super fresh and the soup was so rich yet refreshing at the same time.
Our favorite thing about Taco Temple? Their response when we asked them if we could dine with Nomii in the Patio area – that Nomii was more than welcomed!
Dining out is just so much more enjoyable when a restaurant isn’t just pet-friendly, but welcomes pets. Of course, Nomii is usually well behaved and most people wouldn’t even realize there’s a dog at our table.
If it were easier to travel from our home base in Michigan to Santa Barbara, we’d visit again. It’s a nice little city and there’s so much we didn’t get to do and see because of the rain.
Life with Nomii 
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