Solvang= Danish for Tourist Trap (April, 17th 2007)

Solvang- Danish for Tourist Trap

Many of you might not know this but the word Solvang is Danish for tourist trap. The town is centered around selling you something while giving you the feeling that you have left America and that you are spending the afternoon in a Danish village. It's the senior citizen's Disneyland; shopping for gadgets and gizmos while pretending to leave the real world. I suppose that I am being a little harsh in my description of Danish Ville. To be honest, I rather enjoyed the place after I got settled in and figured out what we were doing there, which was basically walking around and enjoying our time together as a family.




For the most part, the town is like a big mall along the lines of a Victoria Gardens, only a whole lot better. While its main part is blocks and blocks of shopping, the shopping stores are mainly small mom and pop places. There are no Macy's or Borders and the restaurants are not the mainstream eateries like Cheesecake Factory or Spaghetti Factory or any other kind of factory. Be sure that you don't mention the dreaded corporate conglomerate Starbucks in this town! We walked the whole downtown area and the only corporate business we saw was Subway. This of course, adds to the allure of the town. While it is a tourist trap, it's not a corporate tourist trap. Solvang has remained close to its roots; they have not sold out for the prefab buildings and million dollar business that so many of the other towns are now doing.


So, if you have a desire for tasty Danish sausage and meatballs, or you are in the mood for delicious pastries and other delicacies then Solvang is the place to go. Beyond that, they have a dozen or so wine tasting shops from the local wineries in the area; I'm sure the movie "Sideways" helped with that decision. In fact I'm positive of it! One wine shop even had the "Sideways" theme. A Poster of "Sideways" in the window with featured wines from the movie and a slogan that read, "Come get sideways with ________ (insert shop name here).
The area is beautiful, the buildings and décor allows you to believe that you are outside California, the food is wonderful, and the shops are tourist traps. It's a wonderful place to spend a day. If you want to go all out, you can even rent the bikes that seat four or five people and stroll the area.


Before you leave or before you get to Solvang, be sure to check out Ostrich Land and feed the Ostriches and Emus. It's a pretty fun experience and the kids love it! You can buy a fresh ostrich egg to fry up if you want!