Dateline: Santa Ynez, CA. This place is too pretty to be lawful, and far enough from L.A. to be somewhat serene. The valley contains 3-4 little towns with various degrees of charm: Buellton, Santa Ynez, Los Olivos, and of course Solvang. If you've seen the film "Sideways" you have some notion of the place, albeit a Hollywood version. This is where Michael Jackson's infamous Neverland Ranch is located.
The high school and Indian casino are in Santa Ynez; the car dealerships, movie theater, first run supermarket and drug stores are in Buellton. The mission is in Solvang, a faux Danish town with more bakeries and tourist traps than you'd believe possible. In between are a ton of vineyards, wineries, and horse farms.
If I had my way we'd spend a couple of months per year here, but in fact sometimes spend as little as a week, this year for instance. If you substitute grapevines for orange trees, it reminds me of the way the Ojai Valley used to look 50 years ago when I was a kid there, but less developed.
