Bulldog Cafe in Solvang and Art in Los Olivos

Day 302 on the road.
Bulldog Cafe, Solvang

The Santa Ynez Valley is a charming place. How could you not love this place? The small communities of Santa Ynez, Buellton, Los Olivos, Ballard, and Solvang each paint their own picture of charm and beauty.

As I sat outside a small coffee shop in Santa Ynez yesterday (photo at left), an American flag was blowing in the cool breeze and a young local girl was arguing with her boyfriend on her cellphone. My newspaper was folded just right so the breeze wouldn't toss it on the ground along with the leaves gathered around my feet from the nearby garden. I was drinking a Hawaiian smoothie concoction of coconut, milk, and pineapple juice that I had purchased in the coffee shop. I sat for a while just observing downtown Santa Ynez, which consists of a few aged buildings that are home to a local news journal and other businesses. It's a country town, a western scene from a movie like Shane or El Dorado. I expected a Wells Fargo stagecoach to rumble by at any minute. In fact, this area was a regular stop for the historic Wells Fargo stagecoaches in the late 1800s.

As a Texan, with probably some cowboy, rustler, and certainly gambler, in my DNA, I felt at home.

After leaving Santa Ynez I drove north about 4 miles to Los Olivos. Los Olivos has numerous wine-tasting shops, art galleries, and the "Fess Parker Wine Country Inn" (remember Fess in the old shows Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone?). A fellow Texan, Fess Parker has been in the wine business for years in this area. His winery now encompasses four vineyards on almost 700 acres in the Santa Ynez Valley.

(Photo right: the "Fess Parker Country Inn")

I walked around the downtown area of Los Olivos and visited a couple of the art galleries. I spent most of my time inside the "Judith Hale Fine Art Gallery" just a block north of the "Fess Parker Inn." The gallery is located inside an old building on the southeast corner of the town square. The gallery features sculptures, water colors, oils, jewelry, and ceramics from a wide variety of artists. I also passed a sculpture garden featuring metal works and large sculptures suitable for your patio or home garden.



(Photo left: window view, outside garden, in front of art gallery and frame shop.)















A few miles further north I found the community of Ballard. In Ballard I found a historic landmark, the old Ballard School built in 1882, that has been "in daily use since 1883." (See photo below.)

After leaving Ballard I made my way back to downtown Solvang. I've got a new hangout there, the Bulldog Cafe.

The Bulldog has good coffee and free internet access, so you know I'm going to be there on a regular basis while I'm in town. This morning I noticed a sign near the counter that I had not seen on my previous visits. I had to laugh. It's a bumper sticker of sorts: "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Starbucks!"