A Weekend in the Wine County

California Trip - Day 3 (cont.) 4 & 5

Who wouldn't love to spend a weekend in California's beautiful wine country? We were lucky enough to be included in Ashley and Michael's beautiful, intimate wedding in Solvang, and since neither of us had been there, we decided to make a weekend out of it!

Solvang, what a beautiful little town. It is nestled in the valley, surrounding by rolling hills, vineyards and that beautiful central coast landscape. After our full day in LA (and LA traffic) we made it to Solvang just before dusk. We checked into our adorable hotel - Wine Valley Inn & Cottages - and had an even more adorable room on the roof tops (literally!) There was a lovely gift package awaiting us in our room from the Bride and Groom welcoming us to Solvang and providing loads of information about the town and surrounding areas. After getting ourselves unpacked and cleaned up we headed out in search of a cute dinner spot and ended up at Alisal River Grill.

Did I mention Solvang is a small Danish town? So of course, Caleb wanted to check out a Danish bakery for breakfast :) From there we headed out to Santa Ynez to our first winery, Sunstone. It was exactly what I was hoping for - hillsides full of vines, a gorgeous building and amazing wines. Next we headed next door to Kalyra, which Caleb was really excited about tasting, and it did not disappoint! Our third and final stop took us to Los Olivos. We went to the Tensley tasting room and then had a delicious lunch at Los Olivos Cafe which was recommended to us by Ash and Mike!







Wine Bottles - Photo by Caleb Freeman














At 5pm Caleb and I were dressed and at Hotel Corque boarding the buses that were taking us to the ceremony location, Larner Vineyard. What a gorgeous spot up on a hill overlooking the valley with the evening sun, a deep yellow, pouring through rolling hillsides of grapevines. All-in-all, one of the most beautiful and intimate setting I have been to and we felt so lucky to be included on such a special day. Here are a few shots of the wedding ...








Next two photo's by Caleb Freeman


The next morning we found ourselfves at a different Danish bakery, and I think Caleb was in heaven. From there we puttered around Solvang hitting antique shops and other charming little stores, rounding out our trip with lunch at Panino. We loved our stay and hope to return soon. Here are shots of downtown Solvang.