Road trip to Solvang

To celebrate our 1st year anniversary, Theresa and I decided to take a road trip down south to the little Danish village Solvang, which is about 5 hours south of the Bay Area along US 101.

We arrived in the afternoon and decided to check out the Santa Inez Mission first before hitting the main village of Solvang.

Hans Christian Andersen is considered by the locals to be the biggest celebrity. As such, there is a statue of him in the town square and a replica of the Little Mermaid fountain along the main town street.

As the sun began to set, we headed to our lodging for the evening, the Best Western Pea Soup Anderson Inn. The hotel was right next door to the world famous Pea Soup Anderson's, which as the name suggests, is known for its split pea soup.

We opted for the all you can drink option on the menu and had 3 bowls each. Yumny.



The next day we decided to return to Solvang to buy some pasteries and souvenirs. While driving toward Solvang the previous day, we noticed some unusual livestock grazing in the fields off the highway. So.. if you get tired of Solvang, you can always visit..... Ostrich Land!

On the way back to the Bay Area, Theresa suggested we stop by the Madonna Inn for lunch and check out the "interesting" decor. No relationship to the pop star, the founder Alex Madonna decided to open an Inn to service people who were traveling along US 101.

The bakery is well known and we indulged in their banana nut cake. Yum....

We did not have time to check out the rooms, but we did hit the bathrooms before shoving off. The bathrooms in the coffee shop features a rather fixtures and features. Can you guess what the photo below is for? (Hint: only found in the men's bathroom)

It even had a special "liitle girls only" toilet that was quarter size of the adult toilets.

For a complete gallery, click here