Surprise Trip to Danish Days in Solvang with Sarah

 This weekend, I invited Sarah on a surprise outing to participate in Danish Days in Solvang. Solvang is California's Danish capital. I had heard about Danish Days from a teacher at my school (Santa Ynez Elementary) named Ashlee Madrid. She told me that participating in Danish Days is a big part of the traditions of her family. Not only that, but her daughter, Addie was going to be the next "Danish Maid" for the 2025 year, and that her sister, Ashlee, and her mother, had been Danish Maids during their senior year of high school. You can read about it here. I was kicking myself in the foot because Ashlee sought me out with her daughter because I had told her I was coming. But I didn't get a picture with them in their Danish outfit. But I was really happy they made it a point to say hi to me and Sarah. It was really special.

Before we got there, I told Sarah she was going to want to get the breakfast that they were providing for the whole festival. It was Aebleskiver and Sausage. And boy was it good with the jam and the powdered sugar. Aebleskiver is like a balled up pancake. When we were waiting in line, we bumped into a member of the College School District Board, and we talked with him for a bit.

As we were eating our Aebleskiver, we went to go watch the dances at the festival. They had dancers and ballerinas. They did things to jazz as well as to things like the Nutcracker Suite, and also from Mary Poppins. Sarah was really pleased to watch the young dancers, as was I.

We then walked around and saw the outside vendors. While we were doing that we bumped into a woman that was selling Scandinavian artwork on things like furniture and plates. The type of artwork was called: Rosemaling. The lady told us all about the art of rosemaling and it was really cool history.

After this is when we saw the Danish Maidens, the Madrids. We were taking a picture in the Polaroid. We also saw some Viking battling demonstrations.

Then I wanted to go see the Hans Christian Andersen Museum, and especially the storytelling that was happening outside the museum. There was a woman dressed up as Anna from Frozen, telling the story of Frozen (which is actually a re-telling of the story "The Ice Queen"). She kept on stopping when she said Hans from Frozen to point out a man dressed up as Hans Christian Andersen, and say, not you Hans. We took a picture with them, and then went into the museum. Then we had to leave Solvang to go pick up some kids. But all in all, a great little adventure to be on.