Some places exist outside the normal flow of time, like they’ve made a private arrangement with the universe to just stay put while everything else rushes forward.
Cold Spring Tavern in Santa Barbara, California, is one of those places, a mountain hideaway that’s been serving travelers since the 1860s and seems perfectly content to keep doing exactly what it’s been doing for over a century and a half.
Getting there requires navigating San Marcos Pass, a winding mountain road that makes you appreciate both modern engineering and the absolute determination of people who made this journey on horseback or in stagecoaches.
The road twists and turns through the Santa Ynez Mountains, each curve revealing another reason why someone thought, “You know what this remote canyon needs? A tavern.”…