We were up and around by 6:30 yesterday morning, just in time to look outside and see it was going to be another beautiful day here on California’s Central Coast for sure. After making coffee and checking blogs, emails and the news on my computer, I took Molly and Rylie down to the beach for a good run. While I was taking care of that, Paulette had a shower, washed her hair and was all ready to hit the road when me and the muttzo’s got back.
Paulette with Molly and Rylie at the Santa Ines Mission Olive fields
We left our RV Park just after nine and headed south on Hwy 101 towards our main destination for the day, the Danish village of Solvang – about an hour’s drive. On the way to Solvang, we passed thru small towns like Arroyo Grande, Santa Maria and Buellton before we arrived on Solvang’s main street at 10am.
One of the many unique buildings in the village of Solvang
Solvang was founded in 1911 by a group of Danish educators, who traveled west to escape midwestern winters. The architecture of many of the buildings follows traditional Danish style. If any of you have ever been to the Bavarian town of Leavenworth, WA, then you’ll get the idea of what Solvang is like, although Solvang has been Danish for a lot longer than Leavenworth has been Bavarian.
All the buildings are vey well maintained and attractive
We spent a good 2 hours walking up and down the streets of Solvang mostly window shopping and taking lots of pictures of the unique buildings and architecture. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of bakeries in Solvang – Danish pastry abounds here. There were also fudge stores, chocolate stores and many other tempting treats and they all looked terrific.
The “3 muttzo’s” taking a rest on a bench in Solvang
Paulette and I couldn’t resist and stopped in at Petersen’s Danish Bakery and bought a box of 6 Danish pastries – what else? It was a very difficult choice as to which ones to pick – they all looked delicious. We forced ourselves to buy 6 only because we just knew we’d eat whatever we bought by the end of the day!
How do you ever decide which 6 to pick from this selection?
The streets of Solvang were very quiet as I gather this time of year is the off-season for tourists. But, it’s not hard to imagine the streets, restaurants, bakeries and shops just full of people enjoying what Solvang has to offer. We’ll definitely return if we’re ever by this way again.
Before leaving Solvang, we took the opportunity to visit the nearby Santa Ines Mission. It was very interesting to walk around and look at the old historical buildings. Later in the day we visited another Mission so I’ll talk a bit about both of these places in an upcoming blog – who knows, we just might visit a few more in the meantime.
If Danish Pastries aren’t you’re thing, how about some fudge?
After walking around Solvang, and visiting a Mission, Paulette was suffering a bit from Quilt Store withdrawal syndrome. The only known cure for this is to find a quilt store – fast! Luckily, there was one pretty close by called the Old Town Quilt Shop in Lompoc. After spending a half hour in the store and making a few buys, Paulette asked if we were going back home thru Santa Maria? Yup – 2 more quilt shops, but luckily they were located side by side so I didn’t have much extra driving to do.
Another look at some of the architecture in Solvang
So, it was a great day, we visited Solvang, 2 missions and 3 quilt shops! Everyone was happy! We got back to Pismo Beach around 3:30 and I got busy right away emptying our black and grey tanks as first thing Wednesday morning, we’re heading for the Sands RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs, CA for a 3 month stay.
Our site at the Pismo Village Beach RV Resort – first rate!
We have really enjoyed our 3 night stay here at the Pismo Coast Village RV Resort. Everything here is first rate – the washrooms and showers are spotless, our site is spacious and flat level, the location is unbelievable and the free WiFi is probably the best we’ve ever experienced in any park we’ve ever stayed at. We paid a nightly rate of $40 and it has been worth every penny!
Have a great Wednesday, and thanks again for visiting.
0 comments:
Post a Comment