Ah, the last day of our trip! We checked out of the Travel Lodge in Santa Maria this morning around 9am. We hit the open road soon after, traveling south on the 101 towards Solvang.
I know what some of you are probably thinking: hey, Solvang's for old people! Well, Ashlee and I are old souls -- at least we've been told that. Actually, I wanted to come to Solvang because I went there once as a kid and have some very fond memories of the trip. Scratch that, I have one fond memory -- I don't recall what it looks like or where it is, but I sure as heck remember my family and I renting one of those four-person Flintstone-type bicycle cars. I think they are called surreys. Shawn and I sat in the back -- so naturally we didn't pedal. Instead we got to feel the wind in our faces as my parents drove us all over the city. Actually, I'm not completely sure my mom was pedalling either -- it may have just been my dad. Hmm, no wonder why we only went there once...
We made the drive to Solvang in about 30 minutes. We found that it's right in between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara right in the Santa Ynez Valley -- just next to Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. It's just as the guidebook says: a small Danish village catering to tourists complete with faux windmills, tons of pastry shops, a motel called the Viking Inn (it had a longboat painted on the side of the lobby), cuckoo clock shops galore, and several statues and squares dedicated to Hans Christian Andersen.
Our first-stop in Danish Land was the year-round Christmas store. For two Christmas buffs like Ashlee and myself, it was wonderful. I mean, I think that this past year we put our decorations up two weeks before Thanksgiving. Needless to say, it was the type of shop even I could enjoy -- well, at least for the first 15 minutes. After that I had to push Ashlee on.
We checked out the local TI (that's Tourist Info booth for you non-Rick Steves folks) and got information on all the Solvang hot-spots. The friendly guy manning the booth told us about the pastry shops, the Hans Christian Andersen Museum, the exact replica of the Little Mermaid statue sitting in Copenhagen Harbor (except the one here is much smaller), and the windmills. Armed with this info, we set out.
I quickly realized that my childhood memories of Solvang were a bit romanticized -- after all, this time my dad wasn't here to pedal us around. Sure the buildings all looked really fun, some of the store workers had some funny costumes, that pastries all looked delicious, and the shoe store sold real wooden clogs, but I think that Solvang was more Ashlee's cup of tea. She certainly did shop it up -- at least in my opinion. I'm sure that she'd be quick to tell you that she barely scratched the surface.
Following my mom's advice, we were sure to take a breather in a little bakery and sample some of the deliciousness they had on display. Although I'm pretty sure it's not Danish, I choose a chocolate eclair. It was delicious. It was also impossible to eat and the second I tried to cut into it, all the cream and custard came out of the sides. Ashlee can't take me anywhere.
Did I mention yet how it was today? I didn't see a thermometer or the forecast, but it must have been in the 80s. I guess it doesn't sound that hot, but at certain points of the day I felt like I could have been in Havasu. Although I guess the reason we found it so hot was because we just spent two weeks in 50 degree weather and we weren't exactly outfitted for the warmth. Ashlee did, however, bring her Rainbows.
For lunch we stopped in nearby Buelton at famed Pea Soup Andersens, where their specialty is, yep, you guessed it: pea soup! It was fantastic! We ordered the pea soup meal which came with side salads and the thickest milkshakes you've ever seen (chocolate for Ashlee and vanilla for myself), which were brought out first. It was like having a bowl of ice cream as an appetizer -- I love the Danes! The pea soup itself was served in bread bowls with the toppings (bacon bits, ham, green onions, and cheese) on the side. Ashlee will probably want me to mention that the onion cheesebread croutons on our salads were particularly nice.
Our lunch even came complete with a show. Not to be too creepy, but Ashlee and I sometimes get a little distracted at restaurants with the conversation taking place at nearby tables -- no, it's not eavesdropping, it's simply being aware of our surroundings. Anyways, today at Pea Soup Andersen's we couldn't help but notice how extremely pushy the couple next to us was. We certainly felt for the poor waiter who had to explain that the restaurant stopped serving breakfast at 11:30 and the couple didn't sit down until 11:40. The lady wanted to speak with a manager -- until she realized that her watch was 10 minutes slow. She really needed to take a chill pill.
With our bellies full, we made the trip to Santa Barbara in about 45 minutes. We sailed all the way down the 101 and we didn't hit traffic until about a mile out from our exit. We are staying right in the downtown area about a block from the ocean. Our actual hotel reminds us of some of the nicer hostels we have stayed at in some of our European travels. From the crusty floral print quilt, to the loud train rattling by right outside our window, to the fact that we had to upgrade our room to get our own toilet (we still have a communal shower), we're pretty far from the Clement in Monterey. Oh well, it provides all we need it for.
After getting settled in, we spent the afternoon hanging out at the beach. After walking around the wharf, we found a nice shady spot under some palm trees and sat to read and enjoy the ocean view. We noticed that Santa Barbara is very much like Orange County -- we felt like we could have been in Huntington or Newport. There was plenty of blond hair and sun-tanned bodies. The water also looks like the lagoon surrounding Tom Sawyer's Island at Disneyland. We miss Northern California already...
We ate dinner downtown at a place called the Natural Cafe -- we had quite the spread. The daily special pasta was a bit of a disappointment and my beer was a little stale, but the location was very choice. After eating, we walked around a bit, grabbed dessert at Cold Stone, and then headed back to our initially stuffy but now kind of nice hotel room. Ashlee is flicking through the channels searching for Jon & Kate Plus 8, but I don't think she's having any luck. She'll manage...somehow.
We're planning on spending the morning here in Santa Barbara and then heading back to my parents' in Walnut. The drive should take just over two hours -- unless we hit traffic...ugh.
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