We took advantage of the holiday weekend to get up to Solvang, the little Danish outpost outside of Santa Barbara, for some sightseeing, wine-tasting, and hiking. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and enjoyed the strange Danish-ness of the town, its many windmills, and especially the Elverh?j Museum.



We headed up to Los Olivos for a delicious sandwich at Panino, some wine tasting on Grand Street, and then out to Beckmen Vineyards and the Roblar Winery for more tastings.



After a quick nap in the afternoon and some episodes of “Unbeatable Banzuke” (check out the crazy things they do on mountain bikes), we headed to The Ballard Inn, where Aimee had made reservations for dinner. We had one of the more delicious meals I’ve had in a long time – I had some amazing scallops, and Aimee let the chef go crazy making a vegetarian dish, which ended up have some tempura, couscous, and sweet potatoes in it, I think.



This morning, after some amazing pancakes at Paula’s Pancakes in Solvang, we headed back toward Santa Barbara on the beautiful 154, stopping at Aliso Canyon for a 3 1/2 mile hike in the Los Padres National Forest. It was a beautiful hike along the hills, cool and breezy and full of insects and birds. It was a great way to end the weekend, and we headed home refreshed and ready for summer.



More photos from the weekend here.