Los Olivos
Ever since I arrived in Solvang, people have been telling me I NEED to visit Los Olivos. Los Olivos is a small town about 15 minutes from Solvang, with some tasting rooms, cute restaurants, and shops. When my parents told me they were visiting, I decided it would be a great opportunity to bring them and see it for myself. After a nice dinner at Leonardo’s in Solvang the night before, they picked me up and we drove to Los Olivos to find a place for breakfast. We happened upon the Corner House Café, one of the few food places tucked between a multitude of tasting rooms. It served our purpose though and we had some very satisfying breakfast burritos.
After eating, other places were starting to open up as it approached 11 am. Before that, the streets of Los Olivos were quiet and peaceful. It was nice to get that atmosphere at the comfortable hour of 10 am. The main area of Los Olivos that most people visit consists of a square that is just a few blocks in each direction. We walked around, passing by all the tasting rooms (so many!). Because my parents were leaving to drive back to the Bay Area (~4 hours) soon, we didn’t do any wine tasting. I was worried at first that we wouldn’t find anything other than tasting rooms! However, after some exploring, we found that Los Olivos does have more to offer. I was able to get the lay of the land for my next visit, which will for sure involve a tasting.
One fun aspect of Los Olivos was the ongoing Scarecrow Fest. Each participating store created a scarecrow, either matching the theme of the store or going for “Most Humorous” or “Spookiest.” There were ballots at each store that you could pick up and vote for each of these categories. One of my favorites was at the Los Olivos General Store. The ballot also had a map of the streets with all participating locations, so you could make an activity of searching out each location and making an informed decision for your vote (always a good idea ;)). This is going on for the rest of October!
We also stumbled upon a tiny little place that sold cute donuts! You could buy a box of five, with four different boxes to choose from. Two of the boxes had Halloween/fall themed donuts, and the other two were more classic donut types. We chose one of these. It did have one fall donut though: a pumpkin flavored donut with some kind of cinnamon frosting. Delicious.
Overall, it was a great visit with my parents. I am looking forward to returning and visiting one of the many tasting rooms to explore more of what Santa Barbara Wine Country has to offer!