California's own Denmark: Solvang

Looking for a weekend getaway from the Bay Area? Headed to Los Angeles and want to spend a few hours somewhere in between? Want to get away from the techie South Bay to a place that is different? Have a liking for Wine tasting but done Napa several times? All your questions can lead you to this place: Solvang!

The Danish town of Solvang is about 300 miles South of San Francisco and 132 miles North of Los Angeles. When one drives towards the town from San Francisco, most of the drive is on US-101. Then, the busy highway leads to a chic town, full of windmills, eateries, wineries and colorful buildings! The Danish town, spread over just 2.2 square miles in area houses museums, wine tasting rooms, bakeries, art galleries and even a replica of Copenhagen's Round Tower or Rundetarn in the ratio 1:3 as the Town Square.

The best plan would probably be to drive there on Saturday from SF, spend the day shopping, wine tasting and discovering Danish history. Spend the night at one of the hotels there, enjoy a Danish breakfast and take a ride around town on the Hen (Honen) driven trolley and then start back to the Bay Area! An action packed weekend in a silent, beautiful town in the heart of California. If one is pressed for time and wants to explore this place while driving from the Bay to Los Angeles, one can finish most things in about 3-4 hours. Most places there shut by 5 p.m. so one has to ensure they are there by at least 1 p.m. to explore everything in time!

Here is a short itinerary that can be followed:

If one is a fan of history and culture, start with the trolley tour. With $12 per person, the henon tour starts outside the Visitor' Centre on Copenhagen Drive and heads into the lanes of the town. The guide on board explains the history of the town and there are great picture spots throughout the 25 minute tour! Else, there are bicycles to rent and see around the place.

After the trolley tour, next on the list should be the wine tasting rooms. For those who like tasting, head out to one of the twenty wine and beer tasting rooms. There are plenty to chose from, but one could experiment with one or two on Copenhagen Drive.

If the wine does not get one tipsy, exploring the town on foot would be a great option. If one starts from the Town centre, the first photo spot would be the BIG shoe outside Solvang Shoe Store. The shoe is big enough to sit in it! Next is the Elverhog Museum of History and Art and the Hans Christian Andersen Museum and the famous Old Santa Mission Ines. All these places can be enjoyed in a couple of hours, with a few photo shots along the streets. One might catch a vintage motorcycle or car while walking along the Danish buildings. The last spot is the Mermaid statue and the park that has the statue of Hans Christian. 

After exploring the Danish architecture and history, it would be time to indulge in some tasty food. Danish bakeries the line the streets are perfect for that. There is one Mortensen Bakery that is great and Solvang Restaurant. We had sandwiches and the famous Aebleskiver pancakes at Solvang Restaurant. They were awesome! Fluffy warm pancakes made from sweet dough, topped with powdered sugar and fresh raspberry jam. Super awesome!

After a quick bite, one can either check in at one of the lovely hotels in the town or head straight towards San Francisco or Los Angeles. Remember, the town has most places that shut at five! So make sure the mementos are bought, food done and photos taken. After that, one can explore the parks, the architecture or just relax!

This place boasts of a rich Danish culture in the heart of California, and is a must visit if you are around the Bay. 

For more information, check these reference sites: 

Official Visitor Guide to Solvang

Celebrating Solvang

Winter trip to Crater Lake

I have been considering a travelogue since a few months. I registered for this blogspot space that time. But one thing led to another, and I never ended up writing a single post for this blog in 2015. Then came 2016. And a year that begins with a long weekend, better be a great one :) So here is my first post, about our first long weekend getaway of 2016. Hope you all enjoy it! Keep coming back for more real time posts and some from the trips we made in the last couple of years!

Living in the Bay Area, there are multiple options to travel around in the state of California or in the adjoining states. But, in the last two years we have been to most of these places. Yosemite National Park, Tahoe, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, the parks in Utah and the Pacific coast Highway 1. So after a lot of deliberation and thinking, we zeroed in on Crater Lake National Park, Oregon. So five of us piled into a car and made our way from the Bay Area to a trip into Oregon. It is time to brave the cold and snow there.

The first day was driving from SF to Klamath Falls, OR via I-5. The drive is beautiful with changing landscapes and amazing vista points. It takes about 5 to 6 hours to cover the 366 miles with a couple of breaks. As you drive, even before you enter into Oregon, you can see the majestic peak of Mount Shasta from the car. Do stop by to take a couple of pictures, especially if you happen to be there when the sun goes down. The view is absolutely fantastic. When you enter Oregon, there is a board on the right side that says Welcome to Oregon, a pretty photo spot it is! 

We entered Oregon and were welcome with snow on all the sidewalks, on the roofs and around us. The roads had been cleaned and it was a comfortable ride. We reached Klamath Falls in the evening, and the temperature there was just about 0F!! A warm dinner and a ton of warm jackets were perfect for that evening. 

When you are an hour away from Crater Lake, missing the beautiful sunrise over the lake is nothing short of a crime. So the next morning we braced ourselves in multiple layers and headed straight to watch the sun rise. The 43 mile long drive can take about an hour or maybe more if it is icy. We passed by farms that seemed to be covered with snow and we could only see white color as long as the eye could see. 

Reaching in time for the sunrise, we realized how beautiful the lake is and how great a sunrise can be. The sight that day was one of the best sunrises I have ever seen. 

After the sunrise, we headed back on the same way we had come, but the surroundings had transformed. We could now identify the fields covered in snow, the trees that were clad with snow and the historic Crater Falls National Park board that was partially covered in soft snow. The road was winding for the most part, and at each turn, the scene just got more beautiful. 

An hour long drive led us to Klamath Falls again, right in time for warm breakfast. The town was a transformed place too. What appeared as a dead town in the night was bursting with life. People headed for work, shovelling snow from the sidewalks and preparing for the day to come. if you happen to be in Klamath Falls for breakfast, do not miss this famous joint, The Waffle Hut there. It has amazing waffles, omelettes and unlimited Hot Chocolate. Amazing place I must admit.

After breakfast we headed back to see the lake by day. We stopped by the entry board and clicked multiple pictures and then headed to the Visitor Centre. 

On reaching the Visitor Centre, we saw multiple people skiing the slopes around the lake and they said it was quite a task to ski there. The Visitor Centre has a small theatre that screens a movie about the history of the lake twice an hour. The visitor centre is open from 10 am to 4 pm everyday so make sure you are there in time. The park does not have an entry fee during the winter and most parts except the rim are closed. We learned from other tourists that they have a guided tour in the afternoon where the Ranger takes the crowd into the woods and shows around the place. We missed that as we had no information about it. 

Here is how it looked all covered in snow!!

After spending some time at the rim we saw the sun go down behind the mountains. The sky changed from light blue to pink to orange and finally to grey. 

We started to drive away fro the lake towards our next stop, Medford OR. Sixty five miles away, we covered the distance in about an hour and a half, and reached Medford. The temperature was way above zero and no snow. We spent the night there and next day, we started our journey back to the Bay Area.

We opted for the scenic 101 for our drive back. If you have never driven by the 101 coast highway, it is something that you should experience. Though long, the route offers some of the best spots to click pictures and the drive is filled with wonderful landscapes. We saw the mountains covered in fog, the coast and towns covered in snow. We stopped by Crescent Harbor to take some pictures. The view from the rocks was awesome!!

We made a quick lunch stop in Arcata. We went to this homely Mexican Restaurant Adriana, that served some awesome freshly made Mexican food. So after 8-9 hours we got back to the Bay Area, back from the snow to the warmer climate. This weekend getaway was one of the best times we have had, and everything from the drive to the views to the food was awesome! Cannot wait to head back into the snow. 

Here is the snapshot of our trip!

Some more pictures of the snow: