USA Vacation 5: About Wine Country and the Route Back to L.A. Through Solvang and Santa Barbara

Next destination: wine country. More specifically, director Francis Ford Coppola's wineyard in Sonoma.

If you are ever in the area -- and even if you don't like wine -- a visit to this wineyard is nice for a day trip.  Rolling acres of grape vines, interesting architecture and fresh air are an added incentive.

For movie buffs, bits and pieces from Francis Ford Coppola's career adorn the estate.

Of course, there are the wine tasting bars but if you are driving or if it's too early in the day for you, check out the winery's restaurant, Rustic. You can enjoy a delicious steak or chicken lunch under high ceilings, and the ambience isn't too bad, either.

On the way back to Los Angeles, our route took us near Solvang, the little Danish town in California. For someone actually living in Denmark, this experience was slightly bizarre, especially as many of the Danish landmarks were copied here on a smaller scale. But definitely an interesting pit stop on a long car ride. The Asian toursists seemed especially fascinated by it.

Another pit stop on the way back to L.A. was in Santa Barbara. What a nice town! I can also see why this is a great university town with it's proximity to the beach and nice areas. 

And that was the last leg of our holiday in USA. For you readers who waited patiently while I was enjoying the Danish summer and procrastinating on getting the blogs posts out, thanks for hanging in there! I can only recommend a few weeks in California and Las Vegas -- maybe there was a little too much shopping involved but, oh my, it was an amazing holiday!