The absolute best parts of our long weekend in the Santa Ynez Valley were our visits to Solvang and the Nojoqui Fall. Solvang is this really great Danish town that was settled in 1911 by Danish immigrants. It is a very popular tourist destination with over 1 million people visiting each year. It certainly had its fair share of people when we went even though it was offseason and somewhat rainy that day.

It’s not hard to understand why people would want to visit. The combination of Danish bakeries, wineries, Danish architecture was really fantastic. Plus they had some really unique shops that had items I had never seen before. That’s a pretty rare thing since we have traveled so much. Let’s start with the architecture first. I loved the buildings and the multiple windmills along the main streets were really cool.

And of course the bakeries. I did really good in not going overboard but I did have a yummy pretzel and barely escaped from getting an eclair that actually made my mouth water. Every shop (and there were several) had it’s own brand of Danish cookies and plenty of fresh made Danishes were on display. I also liked the animatronic bakers a couple of shops had in their windows. Really cute.

Surprisingly my favorite thing was the little shops. Most small towns have very similar stores but we saw some cool ones here with unique items I had never seen. There was a honey store that had honey from around the world (tempting but pricey), a shop that recycled wine barrels and made beautiful items, and a couple of cuckoo clock stores. My grandparents had a cuckoo clock when I was a kid and I have always loved them, but they aren’t really an RV friendly item. Lee tried to talk me into getting one but I stated that would have to wait until we were permanently settled. I didn’t really buy very much at all until we hit a knife store on a tucked away corner. I love knives and couldn’t resist a new steak knife set as ours are very old. The Messermeister set was $60 but fairly priced in my opinion.

We also had a fun lunch at

We also had a fun lunch at the Solvang restaurant which features a Danish menu and Ebelskivers a Danish pastry. Lee has a really good Rueben and I had a sampler plate which was fun because it had samples of lots of foods I had never tasted. This restaurant was also featured in the movie Sideways and we got to see the front booth where they all sat. Eating local is part of the experience and it was a nice experience.

It’s a really nice little town and I highly recommend a stop if you are in the area.

That being said my absolute favorite part of the entire trip was the Nojoqui Falls. It’s been over a year since I have seen a waterfall and this one was a beauty. Unfortunately the trail was closed do to a couple of downed trees but when we saw others on the path we ignored the warnings. I will say this is something we rarely do but Jack was having a blast and I really wanted to see those falls. I am glad I wore my hiking boots though because the trail was slippery in a few places.

The trees were really beautiful and the falls were incredibly tall and you could walk right to them. It was wonderfully immersive experience and we were lucky enough that out time at the falls themselves was uninterrupted by other people. LOVED IT!

As much of a pain as it is to have to move every six months I am so grateful to have an excuse to get out of LA for a bit. To be honest it was really hard for me to come back as it was a reminder of what we are giving up by being in LA, but as I keep telling myself these beautiful places aren’t going anywhere. If you are in the area don’t forget the falls though. They are kind of tucked out of the way in a small county park so you need to go find them but the walk isn’t that long (1/2 mile) and totally worth it!

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