Roughly halfway between San Francisco and San Diego is a little town called Solvang, CA. When my running-addicted San Diego-based friend told me she’d be running a marathon 50k just outside of said town, and staying for a few days, I knew a trip was in order.
I took the long route down, along Highway 1, snapping photos and chomping food along the way.
The day started out cold and gloomy with a side of fog, but that slowly gave way to warm sun and a vibrant coastline.
Even as a California native, I had no idea how quickly the coast changed from beach to grass to forests and mountains and back again.
A stop in Big Sur for lunch was necessary.
A pork loin sandwich on house-baked bread and a cup of pea soup – yes please!
And back on the road I went!
It seemed like every mile of the coastline was different than the last.
Eventually I made my way down to Morro Bay, home of this GIANT rock. Seriously. Giant.
It was also time to eat again, so I checked out Taco Temple. I was also a bit behind schedule, so I ate this equally GIANT fish taco in the car. I’m telling you, there was about a pound of fish under there…
Taco Temple indeed.
I finally arrived in Solvang that night and went straight to the hotel’s hot tub to wait for my friend to arrive, who was driving a much more direct route up from San Diego after working a full day. She’s a maniac I tell you.
The next morning we set out to explore this quaint little town, which is famous for it’s Danish charm and more importantly, baked goods.
It turns out Solvang also has a brewery, so that was (of course) where we headed for lunch.
We shared fries because we’re nice like that.
I got the Baja Burger, which in addition to a perfectly cooked patty, cotija cheese and some tasty guacamole, featured pickled jalapeños.
Cue my obsession with pickled jalapeños.
My lady lunch date got the Baja Wrap because we’re mildly the same person like that.
After lunch we walked around a bit and checked out some shops, including the store where it’s Christmas all year-round (how I didn’t get a photo of that is beyond me), and the As-Seen-On-TV store.
It’s an interesting town.
We picked some amazing treats from Olsen’s Bakery and ate them while watching crappy TV in the hotel room. That was basically the rest of our day.
Once nicely stuffed and high on sugar, I took the direct route home up the 101. I did say it was a quick trip, didn’t I?