Sunday, July 31st, tennis at 8 a.m. with some lower back pain as expected, packed and left for the first leg of our trip to Solvang at 10:45 a.m. My memory failed me yet again to no one's surprise; left the fruits in the fridge, and left the house in flip flops only. Moving on....
We stopped in Santa Barbara and ate at Lilac Patisserie. We now eat at places that are GF (gluten free) friendly as Elin is likely afflicted with Ulcerative Colitis (UC). Great restaurant, UC or no UC. Elin and I had Eggs Benedict, but the eggs were overcooked and the yolk hard - hadn't experienced that before. This is a situation that must be rectified - more on that later. After food, we walked in beautiful downtown SB, bought 6 macarons and set off for Solvang.
Newsflash: 2nd day in Cambria I pulled a couple of muscles in my lower back as I was gracefully rising from the toilet. What a 'buckets of horseshit' moment. I've never even heard of anyone pull a back muscle getting off the shitter. My immediate thought was whether I could walk and/or drive back home the next day as scheduled. This is the kinda baloney that happens to other unfit couch potato sedentaries. I heard the Uber charge from LAX to Orange County is $150. I can only imagine the rideshare cost from Cambria to Orange County; a 5 hour driving distance. The pain was most acute when I got in and out of the car. A plethora of cuss words would escape my mouth each time, some of which were unrecognizable to me.
Back to Solvang: A quaint town and a tourist hotspot trying hard to sustain a Danish vibe. I bet not one of the 6K residents speak a lick of Danish. Official census stats puts Danes at 10% of the population. Solvang was founded by 3 Danes in 1911 who were fed up with the Midwest weather. I've always wondered about the wisdom of the Scandinavians who settled in the Midwest. You'd think the folks who left the godawful weather in their home country would have the foresight not to pick the Midwest as their new settlement, but I guess the 3 founders of Solvang were the only change agents of the bunch.
We stayed at the Solvang Inn, pretty much Motel 6 territory. For dinner, we ate at Chomp. The servers were polite college age males, most of whom sported a mustache. Irritation began to set in when I reached for the ketchup bottle. It felt empty so I borrowed the one from the next table; empty also. What are the odds? I asked our server for another bottle. He took the two bottles never to return with a useful replacement, and eventually I managed to snag one from a distant table. Chump!
Next day breakfast at Brekkies next to CHOMP. Crew was nice, and the place was well managed, nice and clean. Great place to eat. On the way back we stopped at Olsen's Danish Village and Bakery to cash in some of the items from our free continental breakfast coupon courtesy of our motel. The line was long, weather hot, and what we got for free was limited to second rate items; felt like a bait and switch.
Off to beautiful Cambria, population 5.6K and "a seaside village in San Luis Obispo County, California, midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles."
There's an East and West village; we stayed in East at a charming BnB called the Squibb Houses. There are a few great places to eat at the small downtown where we were, and a steep hike up the steps on the hill near us - nobody except me wanted to explore the top of the hill; took a lot of effort to reach the top.
The weather in Cambria is cool even when it's hot everywhere else. Our room was one of the nicest I've stayed at, with oak wood flooring and sections of walls covered with oak as well, a fireplace where Johanna spent most of her time in the room, and a beautiful open shower/toilet combo where I threw out my back.
Downstairs was the common area where breakfast was served, comfy couches and a big chess table where Johanna bravely took on all comers with a surprising appetite to play. We spent quite a bit of time there since I threw out my back and Elin's abdominal cramps confined us to our residence.
The morning of Wednesday August 3rd, we left Cambria bright and early for breakfast at Lilac Patisserie in Santa Barbara, and this time I gave specific instructions to toast the glutten free muffin extra, and keep the poached egg in our Eggs Benedict runny for crying out loud.
Got home a little after 12 p.m. In a relatively traffic free trip by meticulous design.
If you haven't been to Cambria, go there!
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| Lilac Patisserie 1st visit |
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Downtown Santa Barbara - looking for macaroons per Johanna's request
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Downtown Solvang
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Solvang, Chomp
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Solvang, breakfast at Brekkies
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| Cambria, Linn's restaurant (great food), Johanna covering her face |
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| A not too happy (or loving) Elin posing for a picture under the tree of love |
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Linn's - Owner is a cyclist and thought I was a cyclist (maybe he thinks everyone's a cyclist?). He gave us a tomato his son had picked for the restaurant
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| Other customers kept getting welcome notes, so I complained to Len, the affable front desk guy, and he made us a special welcome note |
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| Our room - I pulled a back muscle in the bathroom shower area to the right and inside of sink area |
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Front entrance to our room common area
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| Johanna in her favorite section of the room |
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| Our hike up the steep hill |
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| Halfway down the steep hill - view of the street below where we stayed |
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| On the way down the hill |
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| Back at Linn's for dinner - had to order take out because of 2 hour wait |
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| Ollalieberry preserves at Lynn's. We bought a GF ollalieberry pie that likely was the cause of Elin's abdominal pain |
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| Back at Lilac Patisserie in SB to right a wrong with the Eggs Benedict |
👍👨👧👧
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