Over the Christmas weekend, we went to Pismo beach and Solvang (About 200 miles south of here). Its a nice 2 day get-away and hence decided to post it here so that others who are looking for a nearby weekend getaway can attempt it too.
Dimple did all the research as always and she was the one who came up with the scoop on these 2 cities. The highlight activity was the Riding the ATVs (All Terrian Vehicles) on the sand dunes.
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We left Sat morning and reached Pismo Beach City by noon. We first went to the Monarch Butterfly Grove. This is a small grove where many butterflies migrate every year. These butterflies are of the same color and style. I have never seen so many butterflies on a single tree before. Hundreds of them.
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Then we went to Grover beach for the ATVs. We were surprised to learn that we could take our car on the beach. Wow. That was fun. To drive along side the ocean. First time that we have driven on any beach.
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They rent ATVs on the beach itself. an ATV can be ridden only by 1 person. Me and Dimple shared 1 hour between us. But later regretted that we should have taken it for 2 hours instead. It takes some time to get used to the gears. (They have automatic too).
But once you master it then you can take it to the sand dunes. There you will experts conquering the sand dunes with ease. Since we were new at this we did not attempt to go on advanced sand dunes. we stayed on the prelimnary sand dunes and did not try any fancy stuff. But it was fun all the same. 40$ for an hour.
Then we retired at Oxford Suites. A nice hotel. With a sumptous breakfast in the buffet lounge included (for next morning). They also have internet in lobby and a library too.
Next morning we started for a small town called Solvang about 50 miles from Pismo beach. Solvang is a small Dannish style town with architecture reflecting the european country “Denmark”.
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We rented a family bike there and roamed the streets that the bike was allowed to go on. It was fun. Kids can sit in the front as shown. The architecture is nice.
On our way back we stopped at the famous “Anderson’s pea soup” restaurant (about 3 miles from Solvang). Their specialty is pea soup. Its worth a try.
Our complete trip details can be found at :
http://travel.yahoo.com/trip?pid=409982
Hope you also post similar interesting trips here at kutchvalley so that others can make use of them.
I am sure you must have tasted original Danish Crossiants, Doughnuts, etc in Solvang….It’s a cool town…and Santa Barbara is 15-25 miles down south from Solvang
Hey Dimple
Thanks for all the information so precise…we followed the guidance and hit this place this weekend….It was great fun….As the weather was just purfect so it was little crowded.
Drove on the beach little bit..but our being a two wheel drive we could not drive much on the beach…Actually our was stuck in the mud and had to tow little bit….Bicycling in Solvang was great fun…Town is very pretty…we did try Danish choclates…Sand dunes was the best part of the trip! We had gone deep in the dunes and my bike was stuck in the sand had to get help from few professionals there…A piece of advice for all the first timers going early like 10ish is a better idea as not many people are there on the dunes….As it gets crowded it gets riskier as there is a chance you may hit into someone..which is dangerous…We also went to the hot springs there….these were private mineral hot water Springs that could be booked for an hour…that was nice but I felt dizzy within 25 mins of being in Sulphur water…One can even go for massage and spa combination…
For food be careful with local Mexican restaurants as many use lard in everything. We tried this Cantina Mexican food that was good and had vegetarian entrees..but dont have rice as its cooked in Chicken Broth!