May 19, 2014 Road Trip! Valencia to Solvang

Before I go any further, I must introduce you to Skittles.  She is a Maine coon cat...all fur!  She has developed diabetes and so must have shots twice a day until she goes into remission...which we hope will be around May 28th.  Paul is very good at giving her the shots.  When they are away a vet tech comes into do it.  I adore her and am planning to kidnap her....that is the real reason I shipped a box of  clothes home.  I am going to lure her into my suitcase!  Shhhhhhhh!

So, after taking care of Skittles and stopping to pick up Paul's credir card which he had left in a store yesterday...and, yes, there was a certain amount of panic before he realized what had happened...we we on our way.  We had originally planned to stop in Santa Barbara for breakfast after a very early start.  Instead, we had breakfast at Lily's, then stopped at the store when it opened at 10.

We took Route 126 west to Ventura on the coast, through groves of citrus and avocado trees and fields of artichokes and other crops.  Mountains on both sides if the road.  Very pretty.  Then we got the coast and Route 1/101, the Pacific Coast Highway.   Also known as El Camino Real where, from 1683 to 1834, Jesuit and Franciscan monks built missions each one day's ride apart from the other.  Now the scenery became more dramatic.   The Pacific Ocean to the west, the California Coastal Range to the east.  And the climate changed to the coastal mists and grayish skies.  The highway is lined with bells signifying the historic mission highway and the center divider is planted with oleander of all colors.

Along the coast, there are groups of very expensive houses.  We passed the Cliff House where we ate dinner in 2009  after a day trip to Santa Barbara.  At Santa Barbara, we turned inland onto Route 154 through the mountains, past Lake Cachuma to Solvang.  Once away from the coast, we had blue clear skies again.  We passed fields of California oaks which are now endangered.  They are beautiful trees and are evergreens.  The scenery along this road is stunning....mountains, canyons, cacti, yucca and other plants of the chaparral, which is a shrubland or heathland plant community found in this area.  It is shaped by mild wet winters and hot dry summers and features summer-drought tolerant plants with hard evergreen leaves.  

Solvang is a quaint little city in the Santa Ynez Valley.  It was founded by a small group of Danish teachers in 1911.  Over the years it grew from a small colony into a city of Danish Provincial style windmills, shops and squares, complete with a bust of Hans Christian Anderson.  The concept of a "Danish village" grew in the 1940's and the city is now a tourist attraction with many attractive stores, Danish pastry shops, fesitvals and theater.  The weather here is cooler with a nice breeze. I am very glad Paul and Amy planned the trip so we were not here in the weekend. It was pretty crowded as it was.  And cars, cars, cars...hard to take photos. We had lunch and Amy and I tried a local Santa Ynez ale...Davy Brown....dark and bitter.  Delicious.  After a walk around town and checking out a restaurant for the evening, we retreated to the King Frederick for a rest.  

Paul wanted his Wiener schnitzel of course and we found the right place.  The Bit o Denmark.  The menu was very nice and included a nice smorgasbord. Paul had his schnitzel and I had frikadeller (meatballs) with red cabbage and a sweetish cucumber salad.  Excellent.  Amy had a shrimp and scallops in a simple wine sauce which she also pronounced excellent.  Le tout washed down with martinis!

The movie "Sideways" ( "No more fuckin merlot") was filmed in this area and it seems to have given the 

local wineries a boost.  There are many wine tasting venues in the town.