Our last full day started with us having a little difficulty finding a place for breakfast. We had a couple places in mind, but both were closed on Wednesdays. Luckily, we found Café Dolce which had not been on our radar but turned out to be quite good with excellent coffee and tasty breakfast sandwiches. I had the Napoli, and Holly had a Beirut Wrap with lebneh, cherry tomato, cucumber, and Kalamata olives.
And an old telephone.
That morning while walking around town, I took a fun photo outside the Solvang Shoe Store.
After breakfast, we went to Old Mission Santa Inés, which is only the 2nd Mission I’ve been to. The other was the mission at Carmel-by-the-Sea.
I had my Minolta with me, but it was too dark inside the mission for the film I had with me so I relied on my phone camera.
But it was a mostly sunny day so I had no problem using my film camera when we explored the grounds.
I also did take a few outdoor photos with my phone.
After enjoying some beer at the Solvang Brewing Company and a little break back at the hotel, we went to Ostrichland USA. I had been there during one of my previous trips to Solvang, but it’s always a fun place to visit.
I never thought I would have an opinion on such, but I like emus better than ostriches. They were much calmer and less aggressive when you tried feeding them.
Then it was time for our 3rd wine tasting, this time at Hitching Post Wine Tasting. I had been to the Hitching Post II restaurant, but since that visit, they opened a wine tasting room. I was already a fan of their wine from my previous visit, and we had for a limited time been able to order wine from them before they stopped shipping to Pennsylvania.
We had a quite enjoyable tasting before walking across the parking lot to the restaurant for dinner.
There were also some photo opportunities on that short walk, including some sunflowers past their prime.
Dinner was excellent as it had been on our prior visit. Hitching Post II specializes in Santa Maria BBQ which focuses on grilling over an open fire usually using red oak. They don’t use any sauce so the food retain the smoky flavor of the cooking process. We all shared the Roasted Garlic, the BBQ Sautéed Mushrooms, and the Grilled Artichoke. I had the Pork Baby Back Ribs and Holly got the Mahi Mahi.
As what usually happens on vacation, time flew and before we knew it, we had to head home. Before heading to the airport, we went to Paula’s Pancake House for breakfast. Despite the name, neither Holly nor I got pancakes. I got the Eggs Benedict, and Holly got a bagel with smoked salmon.
After breakfast, we returned to the charming Santa Barbara Airport to begin our trek home.
The trip home was, thankfully, drama free partly due to having a long layover at the Phoenix Airport. We had no stress about making our connect and had time for a delicious lunch at Blancos Tacos and Tequila. The Phoenix Airport has a reputation for being one of the best airports for food and based on my, albeit limited, experience, I would agree.
It was hard to believe that was our first trip in 2 years. It was great seeing Holly’s family, and we really enjoyed our time in Solvang and the nearby areas. It was a somewhat short trip, but it was a good reminder about how much we enjoy traveling. We’re hoping another 2 years won’t go by before we get to travel again.
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