Moving along from Santa Barbara to Oceano

Rain came in on Tuesday but that didn’t stop us from visiting the beach at Goleta County Park.  We had so many beautiful days but we waited for the rainy one.  However, it’s still a beautiful park  -- rain or shine because it sits on the sandy beach of the Pacific Ocean.  We also discovered a beachside café at the pier.  

Since it was lunch time, we had to give the café a try.   The view was fantastic from our table.  Menu was quite different than what you normally would expect but they had an excellent seafood salad! 

Dinner was pretty similar because there are some foods you just can’t pass up.  This one was from the luscious salad bar at the Elks  in Santa Barbara.  It was their monthly meeting and had quite a spread.  The lodge was packed and meals were being served.   The other choice was a delicious turkey dinner that also looked amazing.

While in Santa Barbara we had no trouble keeping ourselves occupied.  We did get a chance to drive along Shoreline Drive and check out the beaches.  We also saw a few mansions along Cliff Drive.  When it was time to leave, we were ready to get back on the road.

This time we were only driving a short 70 miles to our next stop at the Santa Maria Elks RV Park.  We had heard this was a great place to stop so that was our destination.

First though we wanted to stop at Andersen’s Pea Soup restaurant which was only about 35 miles up the freeway.  This restaurant has been featured on TV and we’ve read the advertising billboards posted along the freeway.  The place has been around since 1924.  We had stopped at the Santa Nella location but never visited the one in Buellton until Wednesday.  Of course, we had to have their pea soup.

As we continued our trip for the day, vineyard after vineyard came into view.  We also saw cabbage plants and more cabbage along with fields growing strawberries and many other things. 

We left the ocean behind as we turned inward.  However, we knew we’d see it again in a few days.

The Santa Maria Elks RV park was just another 32 miles north.  It has been featured on the Travel Channel for their “cook your own steaks.”   That’s what we were hoping for but a special event was planned instead.  Obviously, we were a little disappointed.   The facility at the Elks was huge.  On one side of the “complex” was full hookups for RVs.  We didn’t get that section.   Instead we were in a section with partial hookups.  We had a little trouble getting good electric from their shared pedestals and even got out our Honda generator to make sure it wasn’t us.  It wasn’t.  However, after about an hour everything started working again on its own.  We hate problems and never did figure out what the issue was. 

We had one more little adventure with Jerry and Janice but this time we weren’t driving on the edge of a mountain.  We were on our way to check out some of the small towns in the area beginning with  Los Alamos.   It was such a small town that there weren’t any street lights and no one seemed to be stirring.    The old hotel in town was built in 1888 and rooms only rented to groups.   We would have loved to have walked through but only could take pictures outside and through the window.

We also drove through Los Olivos and Santa Ynez.  Both were famous for wineries and vineyards.  Towns were small and shopkeepers were probably sleeping in as everything was closed.  At least we can say been there, done that. 

Our destination was actually Solvang.  The other towns were just on our route.  Solvang is considered the largest Danish American town in the States.  It was a very busy little town.  There were windmills and many Scandinavian stores. We enjoyed walking through the area and checking out the unique items in the stores.  We also did some olive oil tasting and made a purchase or two. 

Lunch was at the Solvang Restaurant.  It was an authentic Danish restaurant.  One item that stuck out on the menu was creamed herring.  Anyone eat creamed herring?  We used to use it for salmon bait!  No way would I eat that.  Their specialty was aepelskiver.  We ordered one just to try it.  It’s a delicacy but kind of like a pancake covered in raspberry syrup with powdered sugar on top.

We had to be back in time to get ready for the Elks kick-off dinner for the annual rodeo.   Dinner planned for the occasion was steak with an auction to follow.  It was quite an affair with food cooked on their outside grills.  Check out all the wood they have too! 

Three different types of auctions were planned after dinner.  The dessert auction went first  with some of pies going as high as $550.  Then, there was the regular auction.  Lowest starting bid was $100 and a few of the items brought well over a thousand dollars.  Terry and Jerry spent a great deal of time checking items for the silent auction which was last but the speeches went so long after the other two auctions that both gave up and we left.

The drive the next day would be a short one with only 20 miles to go. We would have plenty time to kill since check in was not allowed until 1:00 PM.   Our destination ….  Oceano Elks RV park which was only about a block from the beach. 

‘Tis life on the road.