Solvang, California

When we found out we were moving to California we started researching all the places we wanted to visit. As soon as I came across Solvang I just knew we had to visit. A Danish town in the middle of California? Yes please! Solvang is absolutely beautiful. It is surrounded by mountains and rolling hills, which adds to its charm. I've never been to Europe but I imagine that it looks a lot like Solvang. We really enjoyed exploring the town and the Santa Ines Mission. 

If you go: 
We stayed at Hadsten House in Solvang. Nice, clean room with an electric fireplace. The location was within walking distance to downtown Solvang. We would stay here again. 

Gluten Free Find:

There are a number of bakeries in Solvang. The entire town smells like baked goods, which was pretty much torture for me given my celiac. At least one bakery had GF macaroons, but they shared a display case with gluten-containing food and I wasn't willing to risk that much cross contamination. Despite the lack of gf bakery items, I was able to eat delicious food at some of the restaurants. Brekkies has a gluten free waffle that made me want to marry the chef so I could have waffles like that every day. And the chicken sandwich I had from Fitzpatrick's Tavern was one of the best I've had. They offer gluten free buns (and don't charge extra for them!!) and use a separate fryer for their fries.

OstrichLand USA

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip up to Solvang, CA (more on that in the next blog post). While there we went to OstrichLand USA, where we got to feed ostriches (Ostrichi? Ostricho? What is the plural of "ostrich?") and baby emus. Sadly we weren't allowed to pet the birds--apparently they bite. Tragically, we also were not allowed to ride them. And we were definitely not allowed to sneak one into our car to take home as a pet. Despite these lame rules and obsession with "safety," we both agreed it was $12 well spent. 

Vegas

To round out our trip, we stopped in Vegas on our way back home. We've been to Vegas numerous times but still had a couple things to check off of our Vegas list. Our first stop was to the Pawn Stars Pawn Shop. I love watching this show so I was pretty excited to go see the store. Unfortunately, none of the show's stars were in the shop the day we visited but we still enjoyed looking at all the things in the shop. I was especially intrigued by the art they had: Pissacos, Salvadori Dalis, original Disney drawings. It was a mini art gallery. 

Thanks to a tip from a friend, we discovered the world's tallest chocolate fountain in the Bellagio Hotel. I enjoy going to the Bellagio because they decorate their atrium according to the time of year. Our last visit to Vegas was in January and the Bellagio had decorated for Chinese New Year. This time it was decorated in an autumn theme, complete with a talking tree, stained glass from Tiffany's, and beautiful flower arrangements. As you look at these pictures, notice my eyes in the first picture. This was the moment I realized the tree behind me was a talking tree! I was a bit surprised.