Solvang

Sept 22^nd

A beautiful day in the Santa Ynez area. A short report today.

Starting our day in Solvang

After a lazy morning we headed for Solvang about 10:30 AM to explore the town. We’ve actually been to Solvang twice before plus I was here with my buddy Don to do the Solvang Century. It is a cute little town much like Leavenworth with a Danish theme to the architecture. But much like Carmel, the business district is about 8 blocks long by 4 blocks wide surrounded by residential areas.

Flowers, trees and unique spaces for shops

One other feature is that the town has lots of different types of shopping areas with courtyards and small alleys, lots of public areas where people sit and visit and a beautiful central park and bandstand in the center of town. The city has put a lot of flowers and trees all over town in pots, planter boxes and dedicated gardens with public art and fountains. Walking is easy from any of four public parking areas and there is plenty of on street parking, though it disappears fast.

Greenhouse Restaurant

We stopped at the Greenhouse Restaurant for lunch (http://www.greenhousesolvang.com/). Tina had an open face meatball sandwich, sliced Danish pork meatballs topped with pickled cucumbers and red cabbage. I had a Nordic Burger, a Danish pork burger with carmelized onions,and swiss cheese on a grilled onion bun and fries. Both were excellent as was the service.

A public courtyard and fountain surrounded by shops

After lunch we continued our walkabout and by 3:00 PM called it a day and returned to camp for a dip in the pool.

To see all our photos, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski