My tour group today consisted of six members of a family, all in their early seventies. I picked them up at 10 a.m. from their hotel. Their daughter works in travel and while she was doing site visits around town, I took them on a five hour excursion to the Santa Ynez Valley. I’ve become more familiar with the “Danish capital of California” after the many wine tours I’ve done in the area. But this was the first group who had no interest in wine tasting….

Each family member was originally from South Africa. What surprised me about this was that they were Chinese. My lack of South African history left me with questions I’d hope to ask as the day went on. I learned right away that none of them currently live in South Africa; instead, they are spread across the globe. They were four sisters, a brother, and a cousin. 

It was a typically gorgeous early January day. I took San Marcos Pass and turned off at Stagecoach Road so they could see historic Cold Spring Tavern, originally a stagecoach stop. I filled them in on some history about the place and the fact that the current owners are of the same family who bought it over one hundred years ago (the Ovingtons). They enjoyed taking pictures of the buildings then the arch bridge. We then headed to Rancho Los Olivos to taste different types of olive oil with owner Shannon,  and marveling at the woodpecker granary tree.

We then drove to Mattei’s Tavern, another stagecoach stop, learned more bits of information from a plaque there, then continued down the main Los Olivos Street, stopping at nearby Quicksilver Ranch, a miniature horse farm. Everyone gets a kick out of these horses. It’s a good place to stretch your legs, take a group photo, then continue on.

Solvang came next. It was the day the residents burn the Christmas trees in a huge bonfire, but fortunately that fact did not seem to cause any overcrowding. I had visited the day before with my good friend Karen so I already knew quite a few stores and restaurants were closed for reasons that were never explained to us.

We walked to The Little Mermaid statue, a smaller version of the original in Copenhagen (which has been vandalized countless times by different groups). It’s in honor of Hans Christian Anderson, the Danish author whose bust appears in the town park along with a quaint museum in his honor that lies above an iconic book store called The Book Loft. This is all within a few hundred feet so it was perfect for this group’s pace.

A few of the guests bought a book at the book store (including me!). My kindergarten teacher at Laguna Blanca does a unit on dinosaurs in January and she’ll love this new addition. It’s one of those “Photicular” books by Dan Kainen, written by Kathy Wollard.

Next we headed to the Solvang Theatre Festival, a round, outdoor theatre where I had the privilege of taking my daughter once to watch Beauty and the Beast. There wasn’t much to see since it was closed but the plaque made the guests laugh; it boasted it only took 58 days to build and apparently that’s REALLY slow compared to something built by “the Chinese”! Too funny.

I had made a reservation for lunch at 2 p.m. because The Solvang Restaurant didn’t take reservations before then, but as luck would have it the front table that easily seats seven had just been cleaned and we were welcome to it (it was only 1 p.m.). Karen had even said yesterday how perfect that table would be; I doubted we’d be so lucky.

The group insisted I join them and what a pleasure it was. My tours have become the highlight of this chapter of my life for experiences such as these. Here is a group of people who have just met me but are more than happy to tell me about an entire part of history I never knew of. 

As for food, we all agreed that sharing meals would be best, since everyone was well aware a full meal was not necessary for any of us. One person wanted his own meal, but another was happy to share one with me! Of course we had Danish food, and ended the meal sharing the aebleskivers with ice cream, homemade raspberry jam, and powdered sugar.

After we drove past the Ostrich farm heading for the 101, five of them fell asleep as soon as we hit the onramp, enjoying a 40 minute nap. The islands were so clear I could see Santa Rosa and San Miguel clearly, and the water was calm and glassy. There was little traffic, and I just enjoyed the drive back to their hotel, feeling so lucky to have made this dream of being a tour guide a reality.

Tomorrow I pick up the same group and take them on a two hour tour of Santa Barbara. I can’t wait!