Sunday, June 1, 2008

Day 3 in Santa Barbara - Our Final Day, Solvang, a BRIEF Casino Trip and Home!!

And so our journey is coming to an end, this is my final posting of our trip to Santa Barbara. Maybe you are sad or maybe you are screaming for joy that I will now be free to blog about the many other exciting adventures in “Heatherland”. Either way I don’t care just as long as you are reading and COMMENTING on my blog. And to be honest with you guys at this point SB was so long ago the details of the day have left my head to make room for new blog details. I just need to get caught up on my blog so I can blog in real time, it sounds good but we all know the chances of it happening are slim. I have been promising forever with ZERO results. I know my faults.

Ok so anyways enough about my lack of blogging skills and on to the final day in SB! We started off the day with another 6:30am wake-up courtesy of Aspen, I love him but come, can’t you at least wait till 7:30am to wake me up!! Please, just once! Or at least while we are on vacation. I don't ask for a lot from you as a dog, you really owe me. This day wasn’t the same as the day before, where I got to sleep while Danny took the doggies out, because as Danny put it, “I did it yesterday; it’s your turn today”! I had no argument, he was right. So with my eyes barely open I got dressed and headed out with the dogs. As sleepy as I was it really was just so pretty at our hotel in the morning that I didn't really mind being up so early. Once you exited our door the pathway was full of gorgeous flowers and immediately to the right was the ocean. It was so early (plus it was an overcast weekend) and there was a thick layer of fog. I was able to force the dogs into taking this shot, which if you have ever tried to get two dogs that just want to play, to sit still for a picture at the same time you would give me an award for getting this shot.


It was actually nice to be out there so early with the dogs, so quiet, peaceful and beautiful. We walked down the beach path to the front of the hotel, where along the way we saw the hotel staff putting a huge effort into setting up for that days Mothers Day brunch and we also met another yellow lab, he was only 9-months-old and nearly the same size as Aspen. His parents are in for a treat. It was a great way to spend the morning but I was still a little sleepy so it was back to the hotel room for us.

After snoozing a little more all four of us were up for the day and trying to decide what to do for our last day in SB. Since the hotel brunch the previous day was so good I suggested to Danny that we try the Mother’s Day brunch if there were spots available. We figured it would be a little more expensive with the holiday but when Danny called to see if there were spots available, which there were, he asked the price. Now remember brunch at our hotel the day before was $16, on this day…$68!! Needless to say we passed on that and just ordered room service which was very nice and not $150.

Originally we were going to head to the polo grounds in SB on our last day, which would have been fun since I have never been to a polo match (I would have felt like Julie Roberts in Pretty Women minus the whole hooker part) but we figured since we had the dogs with us that probably wouldn’t work out to well and we decided on Solvang instead. We packed up, said good-bye to the Fess Parker Double tree and hit the road again.

Just in case you don’t know, Solvang is a small city in the Santa Ynez Valley. Solvang was originally founded in 1911 by a group of Danish educators, and while few Danish people actually live there today it still maintains the huge Danish feel and caters to tourists. The buildings in the town are insanely cute.


Just a little trivia question…What 2004 Oscar winning film was shot mostly in the town of Solvang?...still thinking…ok, I will give you a hint, think wine…just a few more minutes…give up?…”Sideways”. If you haven’t seen it you should check it out. If you got it right I have a prize for you, you get to comment on my blog!! Yay, you are so lucky. If you didn’t get it, your cost for losing is that you have to comment on my blog. Sucks to be you.

Of course our first stop in Solvang was one of its many bakeries, we selected Mortensen’s.


There was so many things to choose from, breads, muffins, creampuffs, cinnamon rolls and basically any pastry you could imagine. Danny selected a cinnamon roll and me, I of course went with the éclair.


The éclair was rather good except I must confess, I did get a little sad when I realized there was a thin layer of fruit filling. Make that #248 of weird things about Heather (for those of you that really know me, you already know this), I don’t like fruit in syrup or for that matter baked fruit…I think fruit should only be eaten has God made it, cold, crispy and fresh!! Before you worry too much, I know you were, it was ok…I was able to take of the bottom layer and still enjoy my éclair. Oh, you want proof; I see what kind of friend you are not trusting me. Here you go…me eating my éclair.


And just because we are so cute here are me and my babies in front of the bakery.


I know it really seems like we spent a lot of time at the bakery, so let’s move on! TO THE CANDY STORE. This was no small candy store; it was one of those that are just full of barrels and barrels of candy.


I am pretty sure that Danny thought he had died and gone to heaven. I waited outside while he carefully selected each piece of candy that he wanted. Which if you want to know was $16.00 worth of candy!! What can I say he loves his candy.


At this point we are fully set up with sugar and walking around seems to be the perfect idea. The town is so cute, perfect and quaint. Danny found this really awesome art gallery that he liked and while he was inside checking it out (I was waiting outside with the dogs) he found out the artist was there. We must have good timing because he is only there two weeks a year! Danny was able to get a picture with him.


There we so many little shops, bakeries and cafés in Solvang, it is nice to be able to visit stuff like this. My favorite was all the little courtyards they had, you would turn a corner and there would be a little courtyard, with benches, fountains and surrounded by little shops. This picture is one of my favorite of the trip.


After having our fill of bread, pastries and sugar is was time to say good-bye to Solvang. Thanks for letting us visit. We will be back!

On our way into Solvang we had passed an Indian casino. I asked Danny if we could stop here on the way back, it has been so long since I have been to Vegas and I miss it so. I thought maybe this would satisfy me for awhile. Wrong. Unless by satisfy you mean take all my remaining cash from the trip in under 15 minutes. If that is what you meant then you would be so right. I played Danny’s new found game from his last trip to Vegas, 3-Card-Poker. Danny swore that you couldn’t lose at this game. I think he must have meant you can’t WIN at this game. I maybe won one hand the entire time I was there. Boo…I just wanted to get out of there; so after my luck left me hanging we quickly got up from the poker table.

I have something to say to you Indian Casino! I am afraid I don’t like you, you treated me just as poorly has Vegas has in the past. I am not sure why I thought our relationship would be any different, please don’t try and contact me again. I don’t have room in my life for more than one relationship that takes me money and kicks me to the curb, you must go. I cannot afford you and it will be best for us to sever all ties.

However on the way out I spotted the perfect picture opportunity. I would like to say that it was worth the money I lost in the casino but I don’t think that would be true. It was close to it, but not quite.


What do you think?

After my misfortunes at the casino I thought it was time to call an end to our weekend in Santa Barbara so it was homeward bound for us. The four of us had a great weekend but we all were a little tired and looking forward to getting home.


You call all breath a sigh of relief, my SB blog postings are over and I will now move on to more interesting posts.

Again I can’t say how much I have enjoyed the last 10 years and how much I am looking forward to the next 10. I love you Danny and thanks for being you.
P.S.
If you want to see all the pictures from Santa Barbara I loaded them on my picture page:

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those painting are awesome!

Anonymous said...

Did you stop by Neverland Ranch?

Mel said...

Darn it. I was beat again to comment. sigh...I cannot believe that you actually got up, dressed and walked the kids. I would not be that good. I am NOT a morning person and if I must get up, it is not a reqirement to be peppy, let alone take a picture.

I love Solvang. It has been quite a while since I have been there, but I remember having a lot of fun.

It would have been funnier if you had a picture of Danny skipping in the candy score, holding a sucker...hehe. I know I am a bit twisted. You could have joined him and sang "on the good ship lollipop"...
That's a cute picture of Danny and the dogs...Gracie looks very cute. Aspen, very manly. :P

Again, that was very sweet of Danny. I am glad you guys had so much fun.

Anonymous said...

You guys are cute. You, Danny and the kids. Danny is a great guy for planning such a fun time for you both.