Oxnord - Santa Barbara - Solvang,CA

Santa Barbara is very pretty and built into the rolling hills on the coast

Santa Barbara is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the only such section on the west coast, between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the sea, and having a Mediterranean climate, it is called California's "South Coast", and is also sometimes referred to casually as the "American Riviera." As of the census of 2000, the city had a population of 92,325 while the contiguous urban area, which includes the cities of Goleta and Carpinteria, along with the unincorporated regions of Isla Vista, Montecito, Mission Canyon, Hope Ranch, Summerland, and others, had an approximate population of 200,000.

We were passing by a Volkswagen Club - they were riding with their clean and shiny, old and also very old cars the same route like we

The blue sea and an oil drilling platform out on the horizon

Around every curve was appearing a new and beautiful view of the Californian coastline and the Santa Ynez Mountains in the background

We had our breakfast on Emma Wood State Beach overlooking the water and observing all kind of activities going on

The beach is two miles west of Ventura. North Beach is reached via Highway 101. Moderate ocean temperature at Emma Wood State Beach makes the area a great place for swimming, surfing and fishing. Catches include perch, bass, cabezon and corbina. A freshwater marsh at the southwest end of the beach attracts raccoons, songbirds and red-tailed hawks. The beach also features the crumbling ruins of a World War II coastal artillery site. There is a grassy area for groups. The beach offers a view of Anacapa Island - and occasional dolphins.

Pack your tent and sleeping bag and get your wheels rolling; Emma Wood State Beach is a delightful local campground if you happen to be in California. A lot of people stay here when going to Channel Islands National Park.
You just can't imagine the amount of outdoors entertaining stuff the Santa Ynez Mountains has to offer. The wonderful folks of Ventura like to hang out nearby; if you haven’t been to Channel Islands National Park, you should schedule some time for it since you're here. Gosnell Hill is a fine place to pop by while in the vicinity, and Olivas
Park Golf Course is a great golf course nearby.

As I told before, a lot of activities on this beach: for surfers an ideal spot with great waves

The "Surfliner" train complex on the way to Santa Barbara

Bikers loved this mountain streets!

And there were also other little visitors :))
(click in the picture to see him bigger)

After our breakfast we took the road up to the hills trough the Santa Ynez Mountains and the landscape were changing suddenly again to this wonderful green hills with all the almond and olive trees...

and yellow fields.... everywhere you can see nature awaking - it must be springtime soon!

We arrived in Solvang - a small but picturesque Danish town in the Santa Ynez Valley

Solvang is so photogenic and a joy for every photographer to go around and capturing the beauty of this little town! I made a collage to show you my own collection of Solvang. (click in the photo to see it bigger)


Solvang
(Danish for 'sunny field') is a beautiful little city nestled in the Santa Ynez Valley of California. Founded in 1911 by a small group of Danish teachers, Solvang now is a diverse, modern city, with fine restaurants, lovely shops and outstanding activities to enchant young and old alike.
There are Danish festivals, quiet tree lined streets, horse drawn wagons, Hans Christian Andersen Park, windmills, Danish pastries and dozens of quaint shops to explore. Solvang was incorporated as a city on May 1, 1985 and now has a population of approximately 5,555.

Hi my friends,

We left LA and changed the landscape from a big city to beautiful mountain scenes. We both, Dave and I loved Solvang very much. The region there feels so peaceful, even though it's a touristy place, there is something special in the air! And the rolling hills reminded me so much to certain regions in Switzerland. :)

Stay with me, there will come some more posts to enjoy!

Susanne and David