If you ask me, don't leave without doing these...

Sometimes we just need a break. Even if it's for one night. And that's just what we did.  If you're planning to visit the Santa Ynez valley, do these first. You'll most likely go back again if you do. 

1)   Drive through Foxen Canyon Wine Trail. This is one of the best drives closest to a Sonoma drive you can get. The rolling hills peppered with Oak trees and green in the Spring really gives you that feeling of being in California. It’s why visitors come from all over the world.

2)   Eat an apple fritter. If you’re going to visit this Danish town of Solvang, you probably want to make sure to have a Danish. What is better is to have breakfast here but if you’re driving through, pick up some danishes.

3)   Do an olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting.  Yes, you heard me right. Do the tastings in the town of Los Olivos because if you don’t do them here, you will miss one of the area’s quintessential California towns. So don’t forget olive oil tasting in Los Olivos. We found some of their olive oil is from Italy just bottled in many different flavors. It’s hard to choose which one to take with you. The owner also bottles it for local wineries and has a shop in Solvang. The town is so small just find the olive oil tasting sign.

4)   Stay at a local Inn. The way to soak up the area is if you just stay the night. I’ve gone for years for the day but it’s not the same. It’s so much more relaxing when you can walk to dinner and wake up to a local breakfast the next morning before heading out to a wine tasting. Just stay the night.

5)   Do a wine tasting. We started coming here with visits to the popular Firestone and Fess Parker wineries. However, with their fame in the movies and TV shows that have them crowded, we've ventured out and I'm glad we did. It was nice to know that the Wrigley family has been planting vineyards and now they're working on a winery on Catalina Island. Bet you didn't know that, did you? Neither did we.