Family Time in California

Wed, Nov. 23rd - Wed, Dec. 28th

Our last view as we left the Casa de Fruta campground. This is what holidays on the road look like. We spent Thanksgiving at John's sister's and the next five weeks thru Christmas.

One day we drove down to the little Danish town of Solvang on the coast. The vineyards along the way were beautiful, even though they were completely dead for the year and most of the leaves had already fallen off.



Solvang is a quaint, old Danish town still in it's original state for the most part. Lots of little shops, candy stores, bakeries and Danish restaurants.

This sign was on the side of the bakery above, with pictures of all the rulers of Denmark from present day back to the beginning, all descended from the original old King Gorm. Kind of neat.

There is also an old Spanish Mission here with tours and nice gardens and the twelve stations of the cross.

They also have a Hans Christian Andersen Museum. They had over twenty different versions of the "Princess and the Pea" on a display table. But they didn't have the version I read to my grand-daughter, where the prince puts a bowling ball under the hundred mattresses to make sure the girl he really wants to marry feels it.

View on the way back to Kathy's in Hanford. Thanks girls, for another great day with friends.

Another day we stopped at the Spike and Rail Restaurant in Selma, near Fresno, to check out the little raisin musuem they have there. Selma is the "Raisin Capitol of the World". It takes three years from planting to producing the first raisins. Raisins are one of the world's most nutritious dried fruits.

They have the world's largest California Dancing Raisin at 10 feet tall and over 500 pounds. It was built by students from the California State University at Fresno.
Raisin history goes as far back as 120 to 900 B.C. with the Phoenicians and Armenians. Raisins were so valued in ancient Rome that you could buy a slave boy for two jars of raisins. 100% of the raisins in California are grown in the San Joaquin Valley. 45% of the world's raisins are grown in California. They are mostly Thompson seedless grapes named after Scottish immigrant, William Thompson, who introduced them at a fair in 1876.

Christmas morning at Kathy's. We are heading south on Thursday to Bakersfield, and then on to San Diego area for a week or so. "Finally!" she says. "I thought they'd never leave!"

On the road again. More blogs next week.

Happy New Year All, and to all a good night.

Tarra