Danish Time

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Geo: 34.5961, -120.145

I was feeling much better about food this morning and ate a full breakfast. We finished packing up, and then headed over to nearby Balboa Park to explore. It was Monday morning commute time, and we wanted to avoid traffic if we could. It was already blazing hot in the 80s even though it was 9am. We wandered around Balboa Park looking at architecture that reminded me a little of Gaudi's work in Spain. The park is full of museums- its like our Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. At some point when Arya's a little older, or if there's ever a trip before then without her, I'd love to go back and visit the museums. She's still a little too young. 😊 Okay. A lot too young.

Then it was time to head north. I didn't have any scheduled stops on the way back for this leg of the trip. I figured traffic might mess with us so I wanted to give us plenty of time to get to Solvang.

We stopped for lunch after Arya's morning car nap. I just Yelped the closest place that sounded good and it ended up being a small Mediterranean place in Seal Beach, called Kerostena Mediterranean Grill. Arya immediately won over the restaurant owner's soul. He didn't let us pay for Arya's lunch, and then brought her cold rice pudding. Not gonna lie- Mommy ate most of it, it was delicious. He was a super sweet guy, and kept coming over to talk to us and play with Arya when he wasn't helping customers. I highly recommend his place, if only for his kindness. His food was damned good, too, though!

We got to within an hour of Solvang before Arya threw another fit. She lasts about an hour and a half driving before she gets restless in the car. Awake that is. Longer if she's napping. Occasionally I sit in the back to try and entertain her lol. This time Mommy wasn't interesting enough. So we pulled over in a random city and the first place we saw was good old Target. So shopped for half an hour
I found Arya a cute dress on clearance, and Chris bought another shirt and pair of shorts. For some reason he packed warm clothes.

Arya reluctantly got back in the car after Target, and luckily napped the rest of the way. She woke up just as we got to Solvang. I'd been to Pea Soup Andersen's many times in Buellton growing up but I'd never been through Solvang. One of our good friends recommended the town to us. I was disappointed- this town is totally adorable!

We checked into Hotel Corque- I'd booked it as a discount online- really nice hotel! Unfortunately, we got to town shortly after 4pm. So by the time we dropped off luggage, most shops were starting to close down. We wandered up and down the cute Danish streets. There were mostly just wine tasting rooms still open and only a few restaurants. This must be a day trip for tourists mostly.

We ended up eating dinner at the Red Viking Restaurant. Unfortunately, Arya was past her limit for sitting patiently for the day. I can't blame her. We drive for hours and then expect her to sit through dinner, too? Lol. She made her feelings known. She threw multiple tantrums during dinner. They wouldn't serve us outside because Chris and I ordered a wine and beer (they didn't have a patio license for it) so we took turns taking her outside when she'd lose it. Finally food came and it was easier to distract her. I got Danish sausage, mashed potatoes and red cabbage- all very good! Chris got another Danish dish but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called. It was like a hamburger patty with onions and an egg on top, with mashed potatoes and sweet pickle. Mine was better. 😊

Dinner was stressful, and we needed wine. We walked across the street to the first open wine tasting room we saw. Those were also starting to close down, too, for the night. CaliLove was empty with flashing lights and 90s alternative rock music. Blink 182 and Oasis were playing. The barista asked if we wanted to do tastings, and I was like, "yeah yeah, we'll do a tasting. We plan to buy a bottle, though!" I didn't think any of the wines were remarkable but we bought a sparkling Brut in the end. It was amusing watching Chris dance with Arya and the barista laugh to herself because she knew all the words to the songs.

We walked back to our hotel, after buying fudge from a shop, and realized the pool was open. Chris, "Too bad we didn't swim." Me, "Why can't we?" My money was on Arya losing her crap fast over being in a pool. So we got dressed and headed back down to the pool. To my surprise, she got right in. Chris helped her down to the second step, and then she got into his arms. She was definitely nervous- she didn't like Chris and I drifting too far. She wanted all three of us very close together lol. Another older woman joined us, and we all tried to get Arya to blow bubbles in the water with us. To her credit, she tried! I was a proud Mommy! Arya lasted about 15min in the pool before she was done. She got pretty cold.

After that, we went back to the room for the rest of the night. After she was in bed, we had our wine and ate that fudge (vanilla pecan). Omg, it was the best fudge ever!! It was gooey in the middle. Mmmmm. 😊

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