Although Danes from the midwest established Solvang, meaning sunny fields,  in 1911, it did not incorporate until 1985.  I visited it for the first time ten years later as one of my first dates with my husband, V.  In the summer it is just far enough inland that the quaint town suffocates its visitors at temperatures that reach into the 100s.  On a sunny November day, like we had last week, it was perfect.I yelped for a place to eat, and came up with a 4.5 star restaurant on Mission Road, the main street through town.  Unfortunately, when we strolled up to Succulent Café and Trading Co., we left immediately, and walked next door to the Brewery.  V ordered a hamburger with Portobello fungi, while the turkey with apple-smoked bacon on sourdough with avocados, tomatoes, cheese and lettuce called my name.  I drooled over the half I ate, and took the other half back for dinner.After that we retrieved our sad pouch from the car, and exercised off a small portion of our enormous lunch.  Puppy Girl (AKA PG, Kalev…) loved the walk, but at times didn’t know if she was coming or going.  She loved walking high on the walls.  She is a PRINCESS.PG attracts almost as many visitors as Solvang.  Shirley quickly became a favorite.  Shirley raises poodles, just as my family did when I was a girl.  (Raising poodles was SUPPOSED to build my college fund – another story that you can probably guess did not have a happy ending.)  Nonetheless Shirley told us the same thing a car show visitor had told us months before.  Kalev disguises herself as a mutt, but she is “90%” poodle, according to Shirley.  Her lineage is somewhat in question, however, and she’s a bit leggy.

There were so many places to shop, but with a 90% poodle, it is hard to go into stores.  However Nodding Place Quilts permitted PG to come in, but V preferred not to take her quilt shopping.  (I wonder why???)  Well trained, I spent just a few minutes, snapped a few pictures, and left.  V searched all the Danish Pastry shops for just the right sweet, and you see that he found one.  PG stayed outside of those shops as well, but her nose was active.

Retailers would have a hard time staying in business if they had to rely on us.  Photography occupied most of our time as we ambled down one street then another looking for interesting architecture.  One anachronism stood out among the rest of the Danish-styled buildings, and 1940s beach cottage perched uncomfortably on the main street.

Five miles east of Solvang at the Chumash Indian Casino V’s brother and sister-in-law together won $10,000 last week when they were supposed meet us for dinner.  V’s eyes turned green.  (OK his eyes are already green.)

What did V, Marsha Lee, and PG do next?  Vote for 1

1. “V, let’s go back to Avila and walk on the beach. Wouldn’t that be romantic?”  (Yeah Marsha – you dodged a bullet there!)
2. “Marsha Lee, you wanna go to the casino?   Yeah, they played the high roller stakes, I think $20 per roll.  You’re going where?  What about me?  You’ll drop me where?  OK, well, you sure you don’t want to go to the casino?  It’ll be fun!” (Hey V. , who’s in charge in your family? You’re driving.  Get over to the casino, man.)
3. PG rules!  “Time for a nice nap, let’s all go home and curl up on the couch.  Come on Mom and Dad I’m ready to go.  NAP TIME!!!”
4. D, “Hey bro, WE won $10,000, sorry we missed dinner, bummer right?”  OK, well, did I tell you we WON $10,000.  Oh I did, uhuh, well yeah, we REALLY WON $10,000!  No, we didn’t call you, sorry, but we were busy.  But we DID win $10,000.  Right, well maybe next time.  Uhuh, yeah, uhuh, oh well, yeah we really did.  Uhuh.” (Rain-check dinner with bro, D)
5. B “Pssst D, PSSST… D… Did you tell him that you only won $1,200, and I WON $8,800?  We missed what?  Well tell them you’re sorry, we were busy.” (and sister-in-law, B)

Featured Blog

Map of Time A Trip Into the Past http://jgburdette.wordpress.com/  focuses on nautical history, which wouldn’t ordinarily be a favorite historical pursuit of mine, but I am captivated by this eloquent writer.  “It was customary to spread families around on different ships so that in the event of an accident the whole family would not be lost.”  Now tell me, what do you think is going to happen?   I knew instantly it would not be good, but I had no idea how compelling it would be.  You have to read this post!!!   If you want to explore more historical sites, Burdette has a list for you.

One More Thing

A question came up about the copper critters on top of the tower roof.  So I cropped the picture to get a better look.  What do you think these are?