Travel / Lodging
Travel Note
**Accommodations Guide**
TO ALL - New Cuyama is a small rural town close to our hearts. It is composed of a motel, gas station, market, old oil facility, 4 blocks, and 216 homes. Accommodations in New Cuyama are a little... different. But unconventional is always an adventure and that is what this all is. Let's explain a little more about the accommodations: • Cuyama Buckhorn: local 21 room boutique motel (and restaurant) in town • Homes in New Cuyama: we have reserved a couple of homes through local friends • Blue Sky Center: non-profit that has a number of rentable dorm rooms, hip glamp huts, and campsites for tents, cars, and RVs. Includes facilities and shared kitchen. • Local RV rentals: we have confirmed a few RV/Trailer rentals from Cuyama locals - these are currently unassigned, but if you were considering an RV rental from out of town, this may be a great option. Will be located at Blue Sky Center near camp. (bookable via Garrett) - there are NO RV HOOKUPS. • Wasioja Ranch (15 min away): is a rentable ranch + guest suite (bookable via Garrett) • Other: New Cuyama is ~25 miles away from the next towns (Maricopa + Taft. Our hope is we can house all of our guests directly in town (or in the valley). There are other camp options on hipcamp.com; there is a 5 unit apartment that has some AirBnB rooms in Old Cuyama, roughly 8 miles away. We have developed a state of the art L.F.M. (Lodging Forecasting Model) within our state of the art google wedding planning spreadsheet in attempt to manage guests with secured accommodations. We will keep polling everyone's requests to see if we can shuffle motel rooms, Blue Sky Center dorms and campsites, and reserved houses. We understand this opens up many questions and adds complexity, but we will make things work!
Travel Note
FOR FAMILY / BUCKHORN GUESTS
FAMILY & WISE ELDERS -- The Buckhorn has been blocked off for family and specific guests. For this group, specific instructions will be emailed to you separately. Rooms are not pre-assigned, but each room offers a queen or king bed and a comfortable stay. You will have full access to the pool, sauna, bar, restaurant, and rest of the property. **Guest bookings are a 2-night minimum, so you will be booking for Friday and Saturday night.** *Based on our L.F.M. (Lodging Forecast Model), there will be some available rooms at the Buckhorn for non-family, but will require coordination from us before reserving (which may include double queen rooms). **Because we have fully blocked the whole motel, every one of our wedding guests have full access to the pool, sauna, bocce ball court, fire pits, and the hotel-guest-only areas! The bar and restaurant are always open to the public.
Travel Note
FOR FRIENDS / BLUE SKY GUESTS
FRIENDS -- We have booked out Blue Sky Center (where our ceremony/reception will be), walking distance from the Buckhorn. Accommodations include super sweet dorm-style rooms, Shelton glamp huts, and spaces for camping, car camping, and RV's. Because we are managing this reservation, WE HAVE TENTATIVELY ASSIGNED ROOMS FOR YOU. Please refer to the Lodging Planner by clicking the button below (coming soon) to see which accommodation we have given you. If you have questions or concerns about your stay, please email us at garrettandannawedding@gmail.com. Once you are happy with your accommodations, you will pay for the stay by venmo-ing Garrett @Garrett-Gerstenberger for the amount listed on the spreadsheet. IN ADDITION to Blue Sky Center, we have tentatively reserved a couple of homes, camper/trailers, and coordinated additional offerings within the valley for folks or groups that would have interest in those arrangements. Please reach out for more information.
Travel Note
Food Options Locally
• The Buckhorn includes a bar and restaurant and is open to ALL of our guests, including those staying at Blue Sky Center. • There is also a market/grocery store visible from The Buckhorn where you can get drinks and snacks. Their options are slim, but nice to have. • Next to the market is the Burger Barn/Cuyama Deli that offers pizza, sammies, and burgers if you're in a pinch. • Blue Sky Center guests have access to the shared kitchen, the "Khalili Cantina", as well as fire pits and a BBQ. All of our wedding guests are welcome to bring whatever food, snacks, and beverages they'd like to have outside of what we'll offer. • The old Burger Barn building next to the gas station isn't open. It was suppose to be a greek restaurant and was (supposedly) set to open back in 2024. It is still closed, so don't go there. See below for a map of the area, including food options in town.
Hotel
Cuyama Buckhorn
Family & Wise Elders -- We will send you a specific email with instructions on how to book. Check in at 3:00 PM. For others with interest to book the motel, please reach out to us separately. We will work to coordinate open rooms for others.
Hotel
Blue Sky Center
If you are stoked to book a dorm, glamp hut, or plan to camp/car camp/RV/Trailer at Blue Sky Center reach out to Garrett and Anna. We are managing the reservations. First come first serve. You can view Blue Sky Center's website to explore their accommodations. To see more photos of the huts and campsites, you can visit their airbnb and hipcamp listings too. Garrett's print shop is located at Blue Sky Center, so if you have any specific questions about the Blue Sky Center Facilities, Garrett can most likely answer them. If you bring an RV, note that there are no hookups available. What about bathrooms and being able to get ready if we want to camp, stay in the dorms, or stay onsite with an RV? The Flagship building (see "Facilities PDF Map" link below) has 3 bathrooms: 1 private bathroom + shower and 2 multi-stall bathrooms. The Sun Room will be available to get ready in, as well. In addition, there is an outdoor shower (near the Cantina), and two more single-stall bathrooms (one with a shower) in Warehouse 4. We are looking to set up temporary camp showers with hot water on the premise to avoid the bottleneck of shower time. There may be a shower sign-up schedule we implement, or there we hope we can find creative ways, such as offering up rooms at the Buckhorn for shower/room usage or at the local home rentals we have reserved. More to come. More links: • Blue Sky Facility Resources: https://www.blueskycenter.org/gather • Property Map: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12BtGi3FBnhhhhWd1gTPA-azfdZgrQfU9/view • Facilities PDF Map: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a297d3dfe54eff9efa967c0/t/621802b8f336f37ec49a7ba9/1645740728775/BSC_Flagship+and+Catina_Hospitality_SiteMap.pdf • Hipcamp: https://www.hipcamp.com/en-US/land/california-blue-sky-center-4kk9h0q1 • airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/105121779
Travel Note
RV / Camper Rentals
CREATIVE IDEAS! We have secured a few local RV/Trailers from friends in the area that are willing to rent for the weekend. These will be parked in the camp section at Blue Sky Center and is a great way to not have to deal with hauling or driving something in from long distances. Thanks to some local friends, they will deliver the campers to Blue Sky, set up, ready to go. These campers can sleep anywhere from 6-11 people each. Another option is exploring the RV Rentals through Outdoorsy. There are options where campers or RVs can be dropped off and set up on site to avoid any need to haul or drive one out. You can perhaps find a camper/rv in Taft or Santa Maria that has an economical delivery fee. If you do choose a drop-off option, have them deliver the vehicle to 1000 Perkins Road New Cuyama, CA 93254.
Flight
Santa Barbara Airport (SBA)
SBA - Santa Barbara's Airport is 2 hours and our hometown. We have a great little airport right here. You may find lower costing or direct flights flying into LAX or Burbank, but we always look for flights to SBA to avoid the northbound traffic between LA and Santa Barbara. New Cuyama is a 2 hour drive from SBA/Santa Barbara. We recommend grabbing a rental car or carpooling with other guests who have a vehicle. If you are interested in carpooling, let us know and we can poll our guests to help coordinating driving into the Cuyama Valley. A lot of our guests are local to the area and may have available seats! Airport distance to NuCU: SBA to NuCu: 2 hours LAX to NuCu: 2 hours 20 min BUR to NuCu: 2 hours
Flight
LAX
If you don't mind the drive from LA to New Cuyama (2-3 hours), you may find the cheapest flights land in a big hub like LAX. Again, we suggest renting a car in Los Angeles once you land - there are no busses or public transport to the Cuyama Valley unfortunately.
Travel Note
Driving to Cuyama
There are three main ways to drive to New Cuyama. While New Cuyama is roughly 30 miles crows flight from Santa Barbara, it is divided by the Los Padres National Forest. If you are traveling via 101 Southbound (or Northbound from Santa Barbara), take HWY 166 West at Santa Maria. From Santa Maria, you are 52 miles from the townsite on a two-lane highway. There are minimal passing lanes, so sit back and cruise (especially if you are behind a big rig). If you choose to take the scenic route (from Santa Barbara or south), you can take HWY 33 (from Ventura) through Ojai. HWY 33 is one of the most beautiful drives, as it takes you through the forest, up and over Pine Mountain ridge, and descends in the Cuyama Badlands. It's a bit windy, but if you like an adventure, we suggest it (especially during the day). From Santa Barbara, both routes (Santa Maria HWY 166 W vs Ojai HWY 33) is about the same duration. You can access the Cuyama Valley via HWY 5. If you are traveling Southbound, you will eventually link up to HWY 166 East, either through HWY 33 (which will lead to Taft) or HWY 5 to Buttonwillow (which will also lead to Taft). From there, you will drive towards Maricopa to pick up HWY 166. If you choose to travel from Los Angeles area, the most economical route is over the Grapevine on HWY 5 N. Take the HWY 5 to HWY 166 E junction (it will take you to Maricopa) - keep on going, and you well take the grade up into the Cuyama Valley. IF you like long and adventurous routes through nature via Los Angeles (in daylight), you can enter the Cuyama Valley through Frazier Park. This scenic route will option to drive either through Lockwood Valley (L at Lockwood, R on HWY 33 N, L on HWY 166 E) or continue through to Pine Mountain Club to take Hudson Ranch Rd all the way down into the Cuyama Valley. There are vista points of the Sierras and Bakersfield on one side, and Cuyama Valley on the other. You descend 2500 feet, then L on HWY 166 W.