Day 9: Santa Barbara

(Unfortunately the camera has been acting up so we have had to take some of the pictures on our phones today. Zach is beside himself with grief.)

We got an early start out of Templeton with one goal in mind: danishes. Good thing we were headed to Solvang, the kitschy Danish town famous for it’s windmills, Scandinavian architecture, and sweet pastries. My library hold hasn’t come through on the next audiobook in our series so instead on the drive I introduced the family to the Dear Evan Hanson soundtrack. It was an immediate hit. We did have to pause at one point when Melina yelled, “OSTRICHES!” Sure enough, there was a ranch full of the giant birds right on the side of route 101. So obviously we had to stop to feed the ostriches and emus at Ostrich Land. This was the highlight of the day for both Zach and Diane. Zach because ostriches are pretty comical subjects to photograph and D because she got to feed the birds AND pet a cat.

When we reached Solvang the girls picked out the first danishes that caught their eyes at the Solvang Bakery, but Zach and I had set our sights higher: aebleskiver, a perfectly puffy little donut/pancake doused in strawberry jam and sprinkled with powdered sugar and sold from a takeout window at the Solvang Restaurant. They were all we had dreamed of and more.

We walked around the town just a bit, and it seems to Zach and me that the town has changed significantly since we were here 12-ish years ago. It used to just be cute and tacky, but it now has that “high-end tacky” feel of Williamsburg and Gatlinburg and other places where tourists find themselves with nothing to do but spend money. Before we left we grabbed some fudge for later. The girls bullied me into getting mint chocolate flavored, and boy did I regret that this evening when we tried it. It was flavored with spearmint rather than peppermint, and it tastes disgusting. Zach and I now call it “toothpaste fudge” and it will meet the trashcan as soon as the girls are asleep.

We arrived in Santa Barbara to blue skies, a light breeze, and temperatures in the 70s. It feels like heaven! It also happens to be the final day of Fiesta Days, a huge festival celebrating the city’s Spanish heritage. We loved strolling along the water through the arts and crafts fair and then sharing ceviche and fried shellfish at the end of Stearns Wharf. We even got to see some rays swimming around in the shallows under the pier! Unfortunately Diane got a nose bleed (and another one later in the day) but she didn’t miss a beat and enjoyed everything as much as we did while she held a bloody tissue to her nose.

Then we walked up State Street, the main drag, all the way to the courthouse. State Street was less quaint than I expected since it was mostly restaurants and chain stores, but the courthouse was the opposite. It was beautifully ornate in the Moorish style. We climbed the tower for gorgeous views of the city.

Our next stop was the police station. Not because we got in trouble or because it had beautiful architecture, but because Zach and I were fans of the show Psych and this is where most of the show took place (although it was actually filmed in Vancouver). The girls just rolled their eyes at us.

We then drove up to the Santa Barbara Mission and walked through the self guided tour. It was serene and the courtyard garden was gorgeous. We were also able to pay homage to the grave of Juana Maria, the real-life version of the heroine in Island of the Blue Dolphins, a family favorite.

We returned for a quick break to swim in the pool at our hotel and then to our final Fiesta Days destination, the Our Lady of Guadalupe Mercado. We had read it was a Mexican feast popular with locals but at the last second I panicked and we almost didn’t go in the fear that it would be an awkward potluck in the basement of a church where everyone else knew each other. I am SO glad we decided to go! It was a huge festival of Mexican food, jam packed with hundreds of people. We feasted on tamales, flautas, elotes, and churros and washed it all down with horchata with Latin music playing in the background. What a fun experience!

Churro time!

Now the girls are asleep and Zach and I finished doing our laundry. We have really enjoyed Santa Barbara and are looking forward to spending tomorrow morning here before we head to Anaheim.

One note: Diane decided today that instead of living in a log in the woods she going to live in a mansion. And be rich. “But not greedy rich, mommy, just rich enough that I can have a lot of nice things. I will have a lot of things, but I will keep them neat!” She seems to be heavily influenced by the part of California we are in. I shudder to think how her plans will change when we get to LA…