This Good Thing Must Come to an End

Our final day of the road trip was spent doing a few things we hadn't had a chance to do earlier. Our chosen breakfast establishment was Brekkies by Chomp. On the way, Matt and Joe stopped and ordered some Aebleskiver one of the things still on our to-do list. These warm round pancake balls are bigger than a donut hole but smaller than a muffin. They are denser than a typical American pancake and covered in powdered sugar and raspberry sauce. The five of us shared three while we waited in line at Brekkies. Breakfast was good, but because we were seated outside, we fought with a bee who kept buzzing around our table. Eventually, it landed in my syrup cup and I promptly covered it with my receipt so that it couldn't escape. Our friend's death was tragically sweet.

After breakfast, we drove to Solvang Bakery where I purchased some bread and pastries. I saw a flour sack towel that made me laugh out loud and on impulse I purchased it. It still makes me smile as I think of the imprinted saying.

     "I hate it when I mean to buy seedless grapes but instead I accidentally get...         well you know...oreos."

It was time to say goodbye to Little Denmark and head back to Santa Barbara. We decided to walk down Stearn's Wharf since we only had about 90 minutes before it was time to hit the road again. I would have liked to have visited the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center, but sadly, there wasn't enough time. We did get to look at the local artists selling their masterpieces along the sidewalk. There were a lot of interesting and not-so-interesting works of art.

Before we left Santa Barbara, we made a quick trip to the very first Motel 6. In 1962, two contractors opened the very first one in Santa Barbara and it is still there. Our Trolley guide told us about it and we knew we had to go by and take a photo. After all, Motel 6 was always Matt's motel of choice in our early years of marriage. The original cost of a night's stay was you guessed it, $6.00 a night. Our guide told us that over the July 4th weekend, there was a two-night minimum stay and people paid over $800 for those two nights. That's incredible. At that rate, they better leave more than just the light on for me!

Our last stop was back to Newbury Park. We arrived a little before 2:00 p.m. and the plan was to go to a late lunch with Marc and family. Marc arrived home right after us from an ocean swim. He is training for an Ironman Triathalon in October. We tried several restaurants but either the restaurant was almost closing (The Waffle Experience), the wait was too long (Lazy Dog and Bandits) or it was just closed (Red Robin). So we ended up at Little Calf Creamery for some salads and sandwiches. The nice thing about this place was that it also sells ice cream, shakes, and malts!

Back at the house, we played a few games. Jackie convinced even Matt to play who is notoriously NOT a game person. It was a fun time relaxing and laughing together. Around 6:00 pm, we were back in the car for the final leg of the journey home.

Matt drove home which gave me time to rest a little, peruse my newly purchased Subpar Parks book and catch up on some podcasts. One of the podcasts we listened to was Alpha-Bytes. Zach and his friend Raysan started this podcast a few years ago.

We listened to "P is for Phineas" about their adopted dog. It was nice to hear Zach's voice while we drove. He might not have been able to be with us in person, but listening to his voice on the podcast, made me happy. It felt like he joined us on the trip in a small way.

We arrived back in San Diego and dropped off Joe around 9:15 pm. Both Joe and I had to get up for work the next morning, so I was glad to get home before the crack of dawn. Although it was a short little trip, I am happy with what we were able to see and do. There were some educational parts to it, some goofy things, a good amount of relaxing, and a few more stories and private jokes were born. All in all a nice time. 

To view more photos from our trip: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10157808878566300&type=3

Waffles, Birds and Rembrandt

 In true road trip fashion, Saturday was a busy day of unique and educational activities. We started the day with breakfast at The Belgian Cafe. I had french toast, Matt had chicken fried steak and eggs and the boys each had waffles. We also tried the cafe's Danish sausage. The food was good, the service was quick, and music from the 70s and 80s played in the background. Matt was a happy camper.

After breakfast, we visited the Hans Christian Andersen Museum which was on the second floor of a bookstore. The little museum was interesting, and the bookstore was a place you could easily spend the day. I purchased a Han Christian Andersen Fairy Tales book and also a book on the National Parks called Subpar Parks. The second book is a funny book about the worst reviews the parks have received on social media. It will be an enjoyable read and it has interesting facts and tips about each park.

The forecast was 87 degrees, so after some time perusing many books, we decided to get the outdoors activity taken care of before it was too hot outside. Joe had found the perfect place for us to visit just two miles outside of town. It was OstrichLand USA. We purchased food and fed ostriches and emus. There were many to look at and feed, but you could tell that they were getting full from all of the people feeding them. There were warnings of ostriches grabbing the bowls out of visitors' hands and I watched one aggressive bird try very hard to do just that to a lady. You could purchase an ostrich egg for $50 which was about the same as 18-24 chicken eggs. That would be some big omelet!

We headed back to Solvang and completed the self-guided tour of the Santa Ines Mission. There was a small museum with paintings, tools, and assorted religious artifacts. We were able to see some of the original arches of the building and some flooring from the first seminary in California.

Next, we visited the Elverhoj Museum of History & Art. It was located in a residential part of the town and had been handcrafted in the 1950s by a local artist and his wife. It was built in the style of an 18th-century Danish farmhouse and later turned into a museum when the heirs wanted a more modern home. The museum has lots of interesting information about the history of Solvang and Danish culture. It also has a really nice exhibit of 21 small etchings made by Rembrandt and an exhibit documenting the work of the people of Denmark to rescue 95% of their Jewish population during WWII when the country was invaded.

Elverhoj Museum

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering through shops and looking for an unusual gift for David's friend, DeRon. Poor guy. This has become an unsolicited tradition for DeRon. I also found a Christmas ornament to mark our time in Solvang and of course, there were occasional stops for ice cream, fudge, and beef jerky.

Dinner was at Tower Pizza which was on the ground floor of a cool round castle-looking tower and then we played some board games in the boys' hotel room. One was an "Apples to Apples" type game that David bought at the bookstore called "Prepare to Die" based on the movie Princess Bride. The day came to an end with Matt and David trying out the pool and jacuzzi and me falling fast asleep.

It's a South Facing Beach

 It has been a long hard year and I needed a road trip to rejuvenate. Zach is in Frankfurt and COVID restrictions didn't allow me to plan a trip to Germany yet. Joe is working and saving his vacation time for other upcoming trips, and I am busy moving into a new school building and hiring staff, so this trip would need to be another mini-trip. Since Zach isn't able to join us, we gained a new passenger in Matt.

We left San Diego around 6:00 p.m. with a quick stop at Chick-Fil-A for dinner. Our destination was Marc and Jackie's house. Marc is Matt's youngest brother and he and Jackie live in Newbury Park just north of Thousand Oaks. We made good time and arrived around 9:30 p.m, greeted with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Joe and David played games with their cousin Alex and his wife Cata while the rest of us visited for a while. It was late for me, so after joining in a few rounds of a new game, I was off to bed.

On Friday morning, Marc treated us to his special Lemon Ricotta Zucchini pancakes which were very yummy. We had fresh strawberries and blueberries and Jackie's homemade zucchini muffins as well. We were on the road to Santa Barbara by 10:00 am but will return to Newbury Park on our journey home.

The drive to Santa Barbara was uneventful. Matt drove so that I could join a work meeting from the backseat of the car. The reception wasn't great as we drove along the coast, and eventually, my phone dropped me from the meeting. That was okay though because we had arrived. We took a tour on the Santa Barbara Trolley and for the next 90 minutes saw the sites and learned about Santa Barbara and Montecito the neighboring community. We learned that there are a number of celebrities including Carol Burnett, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bridges, and dozens more that have homes and spend at least part of their time in Montecito. Our goal was to decide what places to return to after the tour was over. Our tour guide was full of interesting facts and had even lived in San Diego. He let us know that Santa Barbara is a south-facing beach which can be confusing to those of us who always think that the ocean is what you see when you look west.

We had a list of things to do, so when the tour was over, we headed to State Street to find a place to eat. We settled on Joe's Cafe,

established in 1928. The food was decent and our waitress was nice. The service was a little slow, but it gave us time to relax and enjoy each other's company. My stomach did not agree with my meal and our time in Santa Barbara was cut short. It was less than an hour to Solvang where we would be staying the next two nights.

After checking into our hotel, Hotel Corque, my stomach had started to feel a bit better. We walked around the town trying to get acclimated to the layout. As is common in most small towns, nearly all of the shops were closed by 5:00 p.m. The guys picked up dinner at Don Nachos and brought it back to our hotel rooms. They ate their dinner on the patio outside our room. My friend, Wendy had recommended the Danish waffle, so I purchased one and shared it with the boys. It is a sweet flakey pastry filled with creme and a raspberry jam. Very rich and delicious. I also bought a creme puff and saved it for the morning.

Our hotel room is lovely. The hotel is newly remodeled and modernized. Joe informed Matt, "We don't normally stay at such nice hotels on our road trips." We will spend the day exploring Solvang and its tasty food. Tomorrow we will return to Santa Barbara before heading back to Marc and Jackie's. Time to get some breakfast!