Hiking Santa Barbara: Couple Walks Every Street in Town
By Saturday afternoon Stacey Wright and Peter Hartmann will have completed a goal that most have never done: walk every street in Santa Barbara. In all, there are 256 miles within city limits, and the last two will be hiked the afternoon of New Year's Eve. The public is invited to join.
It all started a little over two years ago. "We just decided one day to walk every street in the city limits of Santa Barbara," Wright told KCET, adding that the couple is not taking their mission lightly. No road has gone untouched, even the city roads at the airport have been marched upon.
While the endeavor has no doubt been great for their weight and cholesterol, social interactions with the communities played a significant role. On one walk they ran into the publishers of Edhat, a Santa Barbara-based community news portal that covers Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties. Since that meeting, more than 40 articles documenting mosaics, bucolic settings, funky areas and a lot more have been published.
The two have mostly been walking alone, but are inviting the public to join them on Saturday, January 31st, 2011 at 2 p.m. "It would be great if we had a crowd, but we really have no idea how many people will show up," said Wright. Nonetheless, anyone who wants join is welcome. So are dogs.
The two-mile loop will begin at the corner of State Street and Canon Perdido outside the former Border's bookstore space.
For the Record: An earlier version of this story stated that the hike begins at State and Milpas streets. That was incorrect.
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