We spent hours at Shipwreck Playground, an imaginative collection of play equipment, art and water play fixtures. The centerpiece is a play structure inspired by the Winfield Scott, an ocean schooner that sank off the coast at the turn of the century. But my kids particularly adored the funky lighthouse, scampering inside to turn a pole that made the beacon revolve. There's a facade of a small village to investigate, and best of all, plenty of places to get thoroughly wet and mucky. Whale sculptures breach the sand, spouting periodically.
Water trickles from a giant nautilus.
Indeed, on sunny days, we were told, nearby creeklets are turned on and then water play begins in earnest. How unfortunate that my kids had to content themselves with getting merely muddy. The beauty of this playground for parents, though, is location. While you watch the kids, you soak up all that Santa Barbara beauty, the beach views, the tropical lushness, the red tile roofs dotting the mountainside. On the practical side, it should be noted that tidy, almost-new bathrooms are nearby, though the absence of a changing table is disappointing.