31 July 2011 – ssweeny.net

Up early. Another made-to-order omelette. I could get used to this.
Mostly relaxing day. Headed to Buellton, CA and met up with Emily’s Aunt An and cousin Jacqui at Andersen’s Pea Soup where they are famous for their salads. The pea soup looked vaguely like it had previously visited someone’s stomach, but it was pretty tasty. They also have the weirdest gift shop I have ever seen. Not that I expect them to build a gift shop around pea soup but where exactly do the old model cars come in?
We scooted a few miles down the road to Solvang, which is a cute little Danish town near Santa Barbara. The architecture is mostly inspired by real Danish buildings and there are tons of little shops and bakeries all over the town. One shop was full of cuckoo clocks; more varieties than I thought possible. Another shop did the same for socks. On our way back to the car we stopped in a bakery for tea and Danishes (of course).
Back at the hotel we attempted to visit the pool and hot tub but found them fully occupied. The jacuzzi was listed as seating four but the two who were in it when we arrived had to sit uncomfortably close to each other as it was, so we figured we’d wait. Once it became clear that there was an unofficial queue for the hot tub and we were at the end of it, we gave up and went back to the room to enjoy our last night of cable for a while and rest up for the trip home.