I've been meaning to write about my trip to Solvang the day after my birthday, but I've been overwhelmed by life and its stupidities.
On June 7th, I had planned to spend one night in Solvang, at the Wine Valley Inn and Spa, as my personal treat to myself following a couple of nights in Santa Barbara (SB). I was super excited about this for reasons I don't really remember right now.
One, I heard the movie Sideways was shot there and I thought, so that's where they screened that wine awareness movie. Being a lover of wine and good food I thought it'd be a good experience. However, I didn't book the same hotel where they stayed though, I heard they stayed somewhere in Buellton, which is a few miles up from Santa Ynez and Solvang, but Solvang was good enough. Another reason was just a chance to visit some more of the area, tour some more wineries, have a different version of Napa, which I had strived to go earlier in the year but ended up only visiting.
Solvang is a Danish inspired little town. It's very little, more like a strip mall actually, covered in hotels, little antique shops and restaurants. It's really quaint. If you look over the small shops and cobbled stone streets, you would see mountains, gorgeous acres of it, spread infinitely. I had never seen anything like it. No trees, just mountains, or rolling hills, as they term them.
Solvang is a Danish inspired little town. It's very little, more like a strip mall actually, covered in hotels, little antique shops and restaurants. It's really quaint. If you look over the small shops and cobbled stone streets, you would see mountains, gorgeous acres of it, spread infinitely. I had never seen anything like it. No trees, just mountains, or rolling hills, as they term them.
I departed SB unceremoniously. For some reason I was in a hurry to leave SB. I kept asking myself, why but I couldn't understand why. I just felt like I had seen everything there was to see, and when I tried to do one last look at the Pier, it was bloody cold. Maybe in warmer weather, I could warm up to this place, but it was cold and misty. Worse off, my SB hotel room was small and ugly, just meant for sleeping and even sleeping in it was difficult because of the noisy AC...so if you were me, wouldn't you leave early? I just wanted to get to the Wine Valley Inn, check in and then have a good night's rest, currently missing 2 days worth of sleep, so I was partially exhausted.
It was on my way to Solvang that I encountered one of the reasons why I love to travel: the sense of adventure and discovery.
Mapquest had shown me the direction to Solvang, using an alternate route from US 101 hwy. I cannot remember the name of the highway but it was the crookedest, narrowest 2 lane "do not pass" highway I have ever driven in. It was made worse by the fact that I was driving a rental car which I was not used to driving. I was not sure of its speed, it's brakes, it's ability to tip over, to stop at will, if at all. I was just scared shitless. And beyond the lanes were these rocks, rocky valleys lay underneath the roads so if you miss your way, just the slightest tilt of the wheel you could do a nose dive into these rocks and that would be that, no one would even dare to go down there to retrieve your bones. For us single travelers, no one would even remember my last location. I couldn't wait for it to end. I kept looking out for the signs to Santa Ynez but nothing came up.
At this point, traveling alone and renting a car to drive through the Southern California wine region didn't seem like such a good idea. I kept saying to myself, "What were you thinking, Anita?"
Several cars braved the "do not pass" lanes and whisked past me as I did about 40 miles an hour. I was surprised that I could even press on the gas at all considering how scared I was. Forgetting how freaky the road was and the death dip down, it was beautiful scenery. To look over you and see mountains that have been partially carved to make way for the paved roads, it's as if you're actually cutting through the mountains, to do all that so early in the day, is quite a rush. A rush you can appreciate after encountering boring days in Atlanta...but I digress.
To cut a long story short, after a couple of stops, I finally made it to Santa Ynez.
Nothing much to see. Stopped by a grocery store, so much wine, didn't know where to start. Made it to Solvang. Oh, how quaint! It's like a mini-Europe in Southern California. Do people actually live here? I passed a couple of bars and watering holes on my way...they probably do then.
Checked in. Room was nice, very nice. Wine bottles, reasonably priced liquor, cute fridge, no microwave though, fluffy pillows, soft bedding. Wish I had booked this for my birthday instead, but I couldn't have made that drive from Santa Barbara to here that time of night. But still next time, something this nice, no hole in the wall hotels anymore. Please...
Took a walk, stepped into the first wine tasting store I could find -- Presidio Winery. Their wine was good but not memorable, until I tasted their Viognier which was superb, crisp to the tongue and refreshingly cold. I told the tasting room attendant of my trip debacle and he seemed really sympathetic. He advised me to take the US 101 Hwy on my home (as I was now dreading the trip home). The trip is longer but the highway is a much better (and hopefully safer) ride. From there I moved over to the Lucas and Lewellen Wine store. They had a bigger group of people, more couples tasting, stuffy wine attendants but the quality of their wine made up for it. I particularly enjoyed their sparkling wine - Brut.
Had dinner at Cafe Angelica using a 2-for 1 coupon. Geez, 2-for-1, when you're alone, how does that work? Well, it's easy, I actually saved them money on this. I used it for 2 meals, which is starter and entree as opposed to 2 entrees. Being famished out of my mind, I quickly gobbled up the food. Their chicken piccata was battered and fried, so it was tough to chew. I didn't enjoy it at all. The crab cakes appetizer was much tastier comprised of big, juicy crab cakes on a salad bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment