It is! We've done it quite a few times.

Honestly the drive...once past LA...isn't the part I hate. It's dealing with LAX that I'm most thrilled to avoid. Renting a car always adds a solid 30-45 minutes each way to the trip. Because the process of getting *back* to the terminal when we leave can take so long, and the traffic getting there is so variable, we inevitably feel the need to be dropping the car off 2+ hours before the flight.

This will be my first flight into SBA. Sight unseen I'm going to assume that it's a fairly low-stress airport and rental car process. Timing is also better....we arrive around lunchtime and depart late afternoon, giving us several more hours in the area than if we were using LAX.

We talked about heading up the coast a bit one day along PCH. Might depend on what's open in April...