Santa Barbara

This weekend April and I drove up to Santa Barbara for a mini “babymoon.” A babymoon, as I just learned, is a sort of last hurrah before that little gift from heaven anchors you to your apartment for the next few months.  I guess the analogy is more akin to a bachelor party than a honeymoon.  We also wanted to visit Solvang so that I could get in touch with my Danish roots.  It was nice of our friends Scott and Rebecca to let us crash at their place and show us city dwellers around.

April and I got up to Santa Barbara first thing Friday morning.  We had a nice early morning stroll on the pier.

We visited the old courthouse as seen in Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, which is possibly the best law-themed show ever.  The courthouse, which is still in use, is spectacular. 

They even let you go up on top of the tower.

Fortunately Scott was able to get the afternoon off from his residency shifts at the hospital so we all drove up to Solvang.  Solvang is just like Koreatown except that it is smaller, was made by Danish people, and they don’t speak Korean.  As far as I could tell, nobody spoke Danish either.  For you Simpsons fans out there, Solvang is where Millhouse’s uncle is from. 

We toured the beautiful streets and shops and saw the old mission.  We also went to this really strange place called Solvang Ranch that was a mix between the Old West and Denmark.  They had cowboy boots and Wrangler jeans next to traditional Danish dresses. There were also depictions of Danish monarchs along side of photos of George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.   It almost made me feel as if we had teleported to a “red state.” 

The town offers spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and vineyards. 

The other thing about Solvang is that the entire town is obsessed with Hans Christian Anderson.  There are at least ten statues of the guy (giant nose and all), a couple of streets named after him, a museum, and a square in his honor.  It’s almost as if he is the only cool guy to ever be Danish.  What about Niels Bohr, I might ask?  Or what about Søren Kierkegaard (who is way cool, by the way), or even Beowulf? Oh yeah, plus I’m Danish (ethnically speaking that is).  Where’s my statue?

But the best thing about Solvang is that I was finally able to get my hands on some imported salt licorice.   Salt licorice is basically like crack for licorice junkies.  I also found some marzipan, and to my pleasant surprise, some amar bidder stang (it was fifteen dollars a pound and worth every penny). 

The next morning we hung out on the wharf and then went sea kayaking.  We got within a few feet of some sea lions which was way cool.

Thanks Scott and Rebecca. We’ll have to come back sometime.