Lompoc, California

There is one more street scene of Slovang which I want to post here before leaving that town. It gives the flavor of the Danish influence on area,as seen in this mural on a store's wall.

 Now on to the town of Lumpoc which is located about twenty miles from our home. This town is noted for its numerous murals. We did not even have to search for them. Initially we drove through the center of town and thought we had seen the majority of them. We stopped to make some purchases at a farmer's market and I saw  more murals down a side street. I kept walking and a local resident pointed out others to me. Some have been painted in recent years and others were so old they have started fading. One very large mural caught my eye. It had pictures of the ocean floor with men who were doing some kind of mining. Reading the plaque next to the mural I discovered that the mural celebrated the town's 100 years of diatomaceous mining. John reads very issue of  National Geographic, seems to know everything, so I asked him what was diatomaceous mining. It is the mining of what use to be on the ocean floor, as microscopic marine shells. The final product has many uses;  it can be made into a polishing substance, used in beverage production, and also has a value in medicine. The murals of the town covered other aspects of the town's history as well as scenes of the Santa Ynez Valley in which the town is is located.
Here is a couple of the murals which I saw.

 

By the way, that is not a real artist on the ladder, he is painted on  the wall. Sissy's cafe is the real deal. We did not stop to eat there, but it is a well known eatery in Lompoc.

Driving out of town we decided to check out Chaotic Exotics, an orchid farm we had passed by earlier in the day. It was closing time for the farm, but its owner was still there and let us in to look at  his orchids.  He has 3,000 square feet of 1,000 different kinds of orchids. I inquired about the cost for one plant (John did say he wanted to purchase flowers for me for Valentine's Day). I was informed that the cost ranges from $25.00 all the way up to $1,000.00! After learning further about their care and that one bloom happens about once a year, I decided that I did not want a orchid all that bad. Maybe if I was in a home that was not always on the move it would not be a bad idea! We also stopped at a lavender farm before heading home. Here we learned how the lavender flower is distilled and made into such products as soaps and lotions. A drop of the oil in  bath water will calm a fussy baby, as well as a  stressed-out adult. Now that is a useful product!