“Velkommen til Solvang!” greeted the cheerful woman behind the counter at Birkholm’s Bakery & Cafe on Sunday morning. We had just made the drive with our wife and kids up Highway 101 and were eager to sink our teeth into a fresh baked Danish kringle.
The Santa Ynez Valley, though just several hours north of Los Angeles by car, is a world apart…both in attitude and ambiance. The further north you travel the less likely it is that the driver next to you gives you the middle finger as they blow in front of you. Tensions subside. Breathing slows.
Somewhere between Woodland Hills and Ventura you can physically feel a change come over you. The frenetic energy dissipates from a floodwater torrent to a meandering stream. By Santa Barbara it’s a tranquil murmur. Upon dropping over the Santa Ynez Mountains any lingering memories of the sea of concrete left behind are pleasantly replaced with a sea of vineyards.
Solvang, which is Danish for sunny fields, is a disorienting delight. How is it that a small Danish village, where pickled herring and red cabbage are more common than hamburgers and tacos, came to be in a California coastal valley? Continue reading
