Tuesday morning, April 24th we said our goodbyes and sadly left the Pasadena home of Jerry, Hope, Nina and Emil until our next visit. This family is such a joy to be around...it's always sad to leave them.
We headed for Highway 101 northbound for our first campsite on our way home. We stopped and took in the grandeur of the beautiful Pacific ocean just south of Santa Barbara, CA. It's not like we never see the Pacific, it's just so different (namely warmer) in southern California.
We headed into Santa Barbara and stopped at Vonn's for groceries. I love this beautiful town, however we didn't do much sightseeing there this time but we have in the past. We headed up out of Santa Barbara on Highway 154 to Cachuma Lake. This is a favorite campground for people living in southern California and Bob has camped there several times with his Pasadena family. On weekends and during the summer I understand it is absolutely packed...every campsite full. But we arrived to have our pick of campsites. When we finally got settled, we could only see 5 other sites with campers from our site. There was an area that had full hook-ups that was pretty full and since we are self contained we really don't need hook-ups. And we wanted a nice quiet spot where we could see the lake. If you live in that area and want to go there and camp and want a good site..we were in campsite #455. It's lovely !!
The next morning we left Cachuma Lake, passing grape fields and oil wells and arrived shortly at Solvang, CA.
Solvang is beautiful town, called the "Danish Capital of America." I love all the little shops, including the Danish bakeries (yummy) I was able to get some more Delft items here and we had a wonderful lunch in the Red Viking restaurant. Bob considered trying the pickled herring (he's part Finnish and his Finnish mother loved that delicacy) but in the end decided not to. There was quite a bit of what looked like road repair going on, so a couple of the main streets were blocked off. And since it was very warm there, after lunch and checking out a few more shops we climbed in the truck and continued our trek north.
Once again I used the Ken Burns format so you can click on the pictures if you wish to read the captions.
Next installment....terror on the beach !!
9 comments:
I'm still enjoying this series on your trip, Linda. The camp[site next to the lake sounded nice and I enjoyed the pictures. I still hope AOL gets back to its old picture format soon, though.
Sam
Solvang looks a beautiful place Linda, I love that roof too! I'm glad you were able to make the trip and spend time with Jerry and Hope and share all your pics with us! Jeannette xx http://journals.aol.co.uk/jlocorriere05/Welcometomytravels/
Linda,Sam and I agree the new picture format leaves a lot to be desired. If I did not enjoy your pictures so much I would not spend the time.
Aren't you glad you retired? It is fun isn't it? Do you miss working or work?
Have a good week. Bill
Those mountains are gorgeous and the neighborhood in the beginning of the clips is so charming. I am so glad you are sharing pictures because you are touring one part of the country I have never been fortunate to visit. It is simply beautiful!! I have relatives out there but you know how it is, hard for them to come to us and for us to get out there. We send cards and see them about every half a decade for reunions n such. Well hope ya continue to have a nice trip.
Lisa
http://journals.aol.com/randlprysock/AdventuresFromFlorida/
All the pictures were beautiful!! and I love Hans Christian Anderson stories..... terror on the beach, I'm afraid.......
Linda :)
Beautiful pictures! Once again you have taken me on a lovely journey. Can't wait for the next installment, even if it is a little scary as promised!
Marie
http://journals.aol.co.uk/mariealicejoan/MariesMuses/
Yet another very interesting entry charting the journey of a lovely holiday ,I loved the Indian jewelry,and seeing the oil fields and the grapes growing ,I have drunk California wine lol and the Windmill much like we have here in East Anglia ....lovelyentry ....love Jan xx
Linda thanks for a wonderful trip and all the Links ~ the pictures are great ~ (I will be glad when we get our old format back for pictures)
"Terror on the Beach" Look forward to reading that one :o) ~ Ally x
Love the pictures.
http://journals.aol.co.uk/acoward15/andy-the-bastard
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