Day 4: Solvang and Santa Barbara

9:30 am: Adam had never been to Solvang and it'd been 15 years since I'd last visited. My memories included giant tubs of Danish butter cookies and giant Bear's Claw pastries which were all I talked about when Adam asked what Solvang was. Solvang is a Danish settlement where they've built this Danish themed town for tourists where when I can experience Danish culture like giant pastries and butter cookies. We left our hotel in search of something tasty for breakfast and ended up trying the AEbleskivers pancakes at a restaurant housed in an old greenhouse. AEbleskivers are spherical pancake balls with raspberry jam and powdered sugar. Adam was extremely disappointed that the pancakes were not filled. The AEbleskivers were pretty good, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to get them because they are just pancake balls.

Morning: I wasn't sure if Solvang was going to be utterly tacky or really fun and it turned out to be really fun. Sure it had its share of tacky souvenir shops selling random stuff and touristy fudge shops, but our methodical stroll through Solvang's downtown was super fun and we even bought stuff that we really liked. Adam, who usually frowns upon knick knacks, really wanted to buy this cat figurine at one store, but I convinced him not to "go there." Did he really want to be that guy that collected random cat figurines? I know I'd start buying random cat things for him if he started collecting so I especially had to save him from me.

Lunch: We went back to a German themed restaurant specializing in sausages. I knew Adam would want to eat there especially after he'd initially read the menu and the place was serving, "sausage bites," a pan fried medley of all four of their sausage offerings. The service was super slow which was punctuated by a large group of rowdy college kids who ordered a lunch of hamburgers and giant pitchers of beer. We finished up our tour of Solvang after lunch and headed to Santa Barbara, but not before I bought a box, not a tub, of my butter cookies.

3:30 pm: We arrived in Santa Barbara where we stayed Andalucia Hotel downtown. I'm a sucker for nice bedding so I was really excited. I really coveted the Spanish tiles in our awesome bathroom. We strolled down State street toward the pier checking out all the cool Santa Barbara shops. They have one of those "Nordstroms" department stores, there was even an "Abercrombie and Fitch" and a "Borders" bookstore. I'm being sarcastic, but I had to confess that I enjoy experiencing chain stores in different environments whether it's a suburban mall, historical downtown or in the case of Santa Barbara, a Spanish themed outdoor pedestrian shopping experience. We made it to the pier at the end of State Street where I once again saw pressed penny machines. Adam kindly offered me some more quarters and I was all set to buy a pressed penny when I realized I'd lost my pressed penny from Hearst Castle. I was super sad and felt really conflicted on whether I should buy another penny if I'd lost the first one since I would no longer have a collection. In the end, I decided that pressed pennies and I were not meant to be, it's just too difficult so I'm giving them up. Since our dinner reservations were for 8:15, we shared a small kid sized fish and chips as a snack and then headed back up State Street to our hotel.

8:15 pm: Olio e Limone was bustling when we arrived for dinner. We weren't super hungry so we settled on sharing one of the specials, pumpkin ravioli, and a house specialty, duck ravioli. The ambiance was nice, blah blah blah, let's cut to the important part...the ravioli was unbelievably good. The pumpkin ravioli with brown butter and crispy sage was sweet enough to be dessert and I think there was a sprinkling of hazelnut biscotti crumbs on top. The duck ravioli was a nice smoky contrast with a porcini mushroom cream sauce. Lemon sorbet was the perfect dessert to end our evening. I would totally come back to Santa Barbara just for the ravioli, hands down our best meal so far on our trip and a sign of other good meals to come.