Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

The compact halls of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History lend themselves well to pint-sized patrons, from a kid-sized cavern to an outdoot playground. Adults, though, should enjoy a stroll around the campus’s Mission Revival buildings spread along a wooded creek. The small Sea Center at Stearns Wharf, on the other hand, is an all-ages winner, with shark- and anemone-filled touch tanks and a research center with biologically-rich muck straight from the sea floor below.