Butterflies! (Last two days in Ventura)

Today we went to the Goleta Monarch Grove west of Santa Barbara to look for butterflies. They winter here from November to February. The grove is about 3/4 mile from the parking lot. We asked the first group of hikers we passed if they'd seen butterflies and they said no. We were pretty disappointed with that, but kept going. Then we passed a guy walking his dog and he said he has seen a few clumps of butterflies and told us where to go and look for them. We walked over a little dry creek and up a short hill in a grove of Eucalyptus trees (smells great) and had to really hunt to see them. Finally we saw a hint of orange and then realized that there was a cluster of butterflies all around the orange. With their wings folded up they don't look orange--they look like dried leaves. They were also hard to see without the 60X telephoto lens on the camera. Once you knew they were there, though, you could see them, but they were well camouflaged.

 

 

Below you can see what they look like on the trees without the magnification. The seemingly dried bunches of leaves are bunches of butterflies. We had a lot of fun looking and taking pictures and pointing the butterflies out to other groups that came along. When we left around 9:30, a few butterflies had begun to take off, but most were still sleeping.

After the butterflies, we tried 3 different beaches: the Goleta City Beach, the Oxnard City beach, and Ventura beach, but only found 2 pieces of glass. We did get our feet wet at Goleta--the only time we've actually touched the water.

We also saw these royal terns at the Oxnard beach. They looked a lot like gulls all puffed up against the wind except for their crests. When they flew, they clearly looked like terns.

Yesterday we saw The Force Awakens at the downtown Ventura Century theatre. It was satisfyingly Star Wars (for those of us who hated the prequels). But I wish they'd let "General Leia" do more than look at maps and stare dreamy eyed at Han Solo. I guess to be part of the action, women have to be young. Han Solo certainly wasn't young but he got to do more than look dreamy eyed or mysterious (like Maz Kanata).

After the movie, we walked around downtown Ventura. We saw this landmark: the law office of Erle Stanley Gardner, the author of Perry Mason.

We ended the day by going back to Ventura Harbor to a tee shirt shop we remembered from when we were here before and found a couple of good tee shirts. Then we had dinner at Margarita Villa Mexican Restaurant.

 

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Beaches and more beaches!

Yesterday, we spent the morning washing clothes and then had lunch at Snapper Jack's. We couldn't drive north because there was a wildfire just west of here and they had shut down the 101 from Ventura to Santa Barbara. The wildfire started Friday night from a downed power line. It was really windy when we were driving home that night and we were lucky to make it home before the fire.

We went to Ventura Harbor and walked on the beach to the Santa Clara Estuary Nature Preserve. When we were here a few years ago in September, the preserve had hundreds of birds congregating on the estuary. We saw nothing but gulls on this day. We found a few pieces of beach glass, but not a lot. It was really windy. Here's Sandra with the harbor behind her. You can see the smoke from the fire above the top of the mountains in the background.

We drove up to the Ventura State Park and walked around a little more, but mostly gave up for the day. We had dinner at the Barrelhouse Brewery. Nita had a Bloody Mary--the first she's ever tried. It was HOT (made with habanero vodka), but good. Sandra had an Orange Blossom Old Fashioned that had Ventura Orangecello in it. She really liked the orange flavor. Our dinners were a grilled ahi tuna sandwich (Sandra) and a chicken Parmesan sandwich (Nita).

Today the 101 was back open and we drove up to Santa Barbara to visit Stearns Wharf and to beach glass hunt. We could see areas where the fire had burned the dry grass and brush on the road just west of Ventura. In Santa Barbara, we walked the wharf first. There aren't many souvenir shops here like we remembered--really just one that was open. The rest were restaurants. Here's Sandra with the wharf behind her.

We had lunch at the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company at the end of the wharf. Sandra had crab cakes and I had fried oysters, shrimp, and scallops. It was really yummy. Sandra took this photo of me outside the natural science museum on the pier.

Santa Barbara panhandlers are very inventive. We saw this off the wharf. This sheet was staked out on the sand below the wharf and people were throwing coins trying to get them into the bucket. It looked very successful.

We walked about a mile down the beach looking for glass. We found quite a bit, including one very tiny piece of cobalt blue and 2 very corroded pennies. After the first 1/4 mile, though we didn't find much more. Here's Sandra looking for glass. You can see Stearns Wharf behind her.

We did see pelicans and coots along with sea gulls in some small ponds right on the beach.

We came home after that, took naps, and then had dinner at the Wnchester Saloon in Ventura. We both had petit tri-tips steaks with baked potatoes (Sandra's was a yam and mine a regular potato). It also came with ranch beans. Another good meal we could walk to from our hotel.

 

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Merry Christmas to all from Ventura, CA

Yesterday we spent most of the day with our friend Allison who lives in Santa Barbara. We drove up to Carpinteria (half way between) for lunch. On the way, we stopped at the Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve for a walk. We had beautiful views of the ocean to the south and mountains to the north.

We had lunch with Allison at Sly's in downtown Carpinteria. Sandra had grilled sand dab (a type of flat fish) and Allison and I had Cobb salads, We also shared a fabulous piece of chocolate cake. After that, the plan was to go to the Carpinteria beach and walk. But when we got there, the wind was blowing so hard that the sand stung our skin and got in our teeth. We decided to bag the walk.

We drove into Santa Barbara and went to the old Mission Santa Barbara to see the nativity, a family tradition for Allision. It's a typical nativity, but with live animals. There were two miniature donkeys and some black lambs. Then we walked a bit in the rose garden. The roses smelled wonderful. Here's Allison and me in the rose garden.

Then we went to Allison's sister Ivanie's house for mahj and dinner. Ivanie's house is up on one of the hills around Santa Barbara and has a great view of the water and mountains. We played mahj Jongg until dinner at 7:30. It was a fun time.

Christmas morning we went to Surfer's Point--a city park on the water. The beach here wasn't very sandy--mostly big boulders. We only found three pieces of glass that weren't just broken glass. Here's a giant piece we found.

I also got my a good warning sign (only slightly defaced) for my collection.

True to the name Surfer's Point, we saw lots of folks out surfing.

Here's some more photos of us in the park.

After lunch at the Vagarbond Inn (packed as it was one of few places open) and naps at the hotel, we went back to Ivanie's house in Santa Barbara for Christmas dinner with Allison, Ivanie, Wendy, and Michelle. We had Allison's and Ivanie's traditional Norwegian Christmas dinner with spare ribs, baked potatoes, jello salad, rolls, and rice pudding for dessert. Everyone shared their family Christmas traditions. It was a great Christmas evening.

 

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Relaxing in Ventura

Today feels like the first day of vacation after yesterday's grueling car trip. We got up later, had a more relaxed breakfast (the hotel has a full hot breakfast). Then we went into Ventura to get snacks and drinks for the hotel room. We also stopped at the bank to get quarters for when we play Mah Jongg on Thursday.

After shopping, we came back to the hotel and checked out the pool. It's really small, so we decided not worth getting into suits to try swimming. Instead we walked into town and had lunch at Snapper Jack's Taco Shack. Sandra had a shrimp burrito and Nita had a steak fajitas burrito.

After that we came back to the hotel and played Carcasonne, read, and took naps until 3pm when we left for the San Buenaventura State Beach. It's a very short walk from our hotel--half a block over and then across the highway on a pedestrian bridge and then you're there. You can only go a little way out on the pier due to storm damage. Here's a photo of us on the pier looking south towards the beach.

We walked down to the beach and looked for beach glass. Here's the first peice we found:

There wasn't a lot of glass, but we found a respectable amount. There were some nice waves out on the water.

After about 2 hours of searching, we went back to the pier and ate at Beach House Fish. You order fish and then say how you want it cooked and what you want for a side. Sandra got scallops with pasta and apple slaw. Nita got grilled ahi tuna with cucumber ginger salad. They were both yummy.

While we were eating, we watched surfers trying to catch a wave. There were some good waves, but seems like you have to have a lot of patience to surf. You have to wait for the waves and then if you're not in the exact right spot, you miss it. Some of the waves were about 5-6 feet high.

Here's our sea glass catch of the day.

 

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Sunny California??

We left Seattle yesterday morning amid the usual crowds at Seatac plus holiday parades. (See unicyclist and duck man below).

 

 

Los Angeles was 20 degrees warmer than Seattle, but at 61 degrees and cloudy, not exactly warm.

We drove up the Pacific Hwy to Ventura. Despite the sometimes heavy traffic and misty rain, the drive was lovely. Lots of beautiful ocean views with big waves and fancy houses along the ocean side of the highway in Malibu. There were also lonely houses on hilltops getting precariously close to the edge as the sides of the hill have slid away.

We checked into our hotel--Country Inn and Suites right off 101 in Ventura--walked two blocks to the Fiore Cafe where we had agnolotti di pollo e spinaci (chicken and spinach ravioli) and linguini al frutti di mare. Delizioso!

Today we went to San Jose to see the van guy about converting our van. We drove up 154 through the mountains and then up 101 to San Jose. It was rainy/foggy for much of the way (>5 hours up to San Jose). But we did see lots of mountains, farmland, and miles and miles of vineyards. And we saw four different rainbows.

 

The 101 follows much of the old road between the 21 missions in California: the Camino Real. There are bell markers along the road every few miles to remind you of this.

 

We talked to the van guy (Gary at Personalized Vans) for about two hours. He's going to work up an estimate for us. We're very excited to be one step closer to our completed van. We might be camping as early as spring break!

 

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Disneyland, Day One

We had a busy day today! We started out bright and early and left the hotel at 6:30am. When you stay in a resort hotel, you get an "Magic Hour" pass where you get to go into the park an hour before it officially opens. It's still crowded, just not as amazingly crowded as later. We had breakfast at Starbucks (the only place open that wasn't the super expensive hotel breakfast) and made it to the gate a little after 7.

We made our way to the Space Mountain, which Sandra and Jasen remembered fondly from when they came when Jasen was young. We had almost no wait to get on, but it does take about 10 minutes to walk from the entry to where you board the cars (or space ships). Space Mountain is like a rollercoaster, only it's completely inside and there are light effects like you are in space. The light effects weren't that amazing, but that was okay with me because I spent most of the ride with my head tucked down so my neck wouldn't be whipped around. It was a frightening ride. The car raced and dipped and pulled hard turns. I was screaming and having to tell myself over and over again, "I'm not going to die!" When I got off, my heart was pounding and I was sweating and my body hurt from hanging on. I don't know that I'll ever do that again. Sandra and Jasen loved it; Rebecca and Kayden were more reserved. Sidney was with me on the not wanting to do that again. We have a digital photo coming when I can download it at home. I'll post that later.

After Space Mountain, we went to finding Nemo. The lines were getting longer and we had to wait about 20 minutes to get in. For this ride, you go down a spiral staircase into a submarine where you sit looking out portholes on the side.

Sandra boarding the sub.

 

Kayden, Rebecca, and Sidney watch the show out the porthole. The top of the sub never goes under, but you are below the water line. You go into a cave and there's animations and special effects in the water from Finding Nemo. Very cute, but I'm still not sure how we got out of the whale that swallowed us!

We left Tomorrowland and were headed over to Critterland to see Winnie the Pooh. On the way, we did Pirates of the Caribbean in New Orleans Square. You sit in boat and go through the ride. We went down a short drop where those of us in the front of the boat got splashed. At one point you pass between two ships who are firing cannons over you. The water splashes when the "cannonballs" hit. You pass a bunch of pirate skeletons guarding bootie and such. You pass through a "waterfall": a watery-looking mist from a fog machine. Then you get to the pirate's lair and the pirates are all drinking, singing, or selling or chasing "wenches." It was a fun ride and interesting to go through.

Then we stopped at the Jungle Cruise: a big boat that goes past hippos, both Indian and African elephants, giraffes, tigers, and so on. The boat pilot is of course all dressed up in a safari outfit (all the people running all the rides and working consessions are dressed in costumes) and constantly making bad puns the whole way.

 

 

Next, Sandra and I rested while the rest did the Tarzan Treehouse. It was a climb up a bunch of stairs and then walking around on walkways through the trees. After that we went through the haunted house. You go into a beautiful old mansion and the first room you stand in seems to get taller. Then you get into the cars that take you around. There were some interesting effects, including my favorite: the ghosts who were dancing below. I can't figure out how they did it: there weren't any animatronics there, just images on air, maybe something projected on some kind of fog? Very cool.

Finally we got to the Winnie the Pooh ride. You got to see all the characters and Winnie the Pooh has this dream where there is hunny everywhere. Walking back from Critterland, we saw Princess Tiana as we walked through New Orleans Square and stopped to get our photos taken with her.

 

We had lunch at the French Market. It was a cafeteria, where they had pretty basic food, but I did get some good jambalaya. We shared a Diamond Chocolate cake, which had a big candy diamond on the top. This year is Disney's 60th year, so there are diamond Disney things everywhere.

Then we went for a paddleboat ride on the Mark Twain Riverboat. It was a replica paddleboat and we "toured" the Mississippi from New Orleans, to Texas, to the Plains. Here's the gang on the upper deck. The sun was too hot, though, so we went to the second deck for the trip.

 

Next, we went to Fantasyland and posed in front of the famous Sleeping Beauty castle.

 

 

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Disneyland Ho!

We are off to Disneyland today with Sandra's grandkids and their parents. The kids flew to Seattle and we met then at the airport in Seattle to fly to LAX.

Sandra, Sidney, and Kaden at Seatac.

Once we arrived at LAX, we just missed the shuttle to the Disneyland Resort and had to wait an hour more before the next one. We're getting practice for waiting in line for rides! Then it was over an hour ride to the resort, but we finally made it.

We were all too pooped to do anything but eat dinner and then swim at the hotel pool.

Jasen and Rebecca by the pool.

The pool has a great slide. Here's Sandra coming down!

 

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