Solvang

Last night, Tina and I went to dinner at the Stagecoach Restaurant, here in town. We were looking forward to a Barbecue dinner of spare ribs and beans. Just after the soup was poured I dosed mine with margarita beans and hot salsa for a real unique flavor. With my first spoonful though I knew I was in trouble. I'd been having some sensitivity problems off and on with one of my teeth and as I bit into a piece of tomato I felt something give. Lo and behold I had lost a huge chunk of that troublesome tooth. Well, not really lost it, but it was no longer where it belonged. Ouch!! I managed to enjoy the rest of my dinner without too much discomfort, but it looked like we might not be leaving town for a while.

In the morning I called a local dentist and was fortunate to get in right away. After looking at what remained he determined that rather than put a crown on it he could build up the 'missing' section with one of the new composites and I could get a proper crown when we got back home. By 10:30 I was back at the RV with hardly any after effects of the Novocain. This is a Dentist that definitely made a difference for Tina and me!!

Just after 11:00, our friends Don & Diane arrived. They had driven up from LA for a day to visit with us and tour Solvang. After a brief stop, we hopped in their car and went to Solvang for a day exploring and shopping.

Solvang, or Sunny Fields, was founded in 1911 by a group of Danish educators. The settlers wanted to escape the midwestern winters and create their own Danish community. What evolved is a picturesque community with Danish-style architecture, including windmills filled with bakeries, restaurants, and merchants offering a taste of Denmark in California. The architecture of many of the buildings follows traditional Danish style. There is a copy of the famous Little Mermaid statue from Copenhagen, as well as one featuring the bust of famed Danish fable writer Hans Christian Andersen. A one third scale replica of the Copenhagen observatory Rundetarn (Round Tower) can be seen in the city centre.

We wandered along shady streets checking out shops and the architecture finally stopping for lunch at the Solvang Restaurant where we had Reuben sandwiches with Aebleskiver for desert.

What the heck are aebleskiver you say? Well let me tell you, Aebleskiver are some thing different. Supposedly invented by some Dane back in history, they are like a waffle or a pancake formed like a tennis ball and served with powdered sugar sprinkled over them and then topped with raspberry jam. Yummm!!

After lunch we spent several more hours just wandering around town with a final stop at the Solvang Hardware Store. This place is like a combination of Ace Hardware and Linds, a real fascinating place.

We returned from Solvang and spent a couple of hours playing "Competition Yahtzee" followed by dinner at Andersens Restaurant, famous for their split pea soup. After dinner there we went home and played a Lightening Round of "Competition Yahtzee" for all the marbles. Don (Commander Scorpion) ended up the winner. At this point I must digress. Over the past six years (off and on), Don (Commander Scorpion) and I (Captain Hotshot) have been writing a sort of free form book which we finally decided to publish as a blog which can be found at: http://blacktoblue.blogspot.com/. This is truly a work of literary genius, but that's another story, heh, heh...

Don and Diane finally left for home (with all my marbles) around 7:30 for the long drive back to LA. After walking the dogs we settled in for a good nights sleep!!