Ventura Highway

Ventura Highway in the sunshine

Where the days are longer

The nights are stronger than moonshine

You're gonna go, I know.

Ventura Highway: America

From Johnny G:

It had to happen, a road trip from LA. With all these freeways how can you not go? It's part of the Angeleno's psyche, get in the car, take the top down, and head for Ventura on the Ventura Freeway. So off we went, but our destination was the beautiful seaside town of Santa Barbara, about 90 miles north. Sarah's brother Chris had an assignment here awhile back and hasn't stopped raving about the town. "Great little restaurants, hidden treasures everywhere, sailing the Channel Islands. Damn!". The 12 lane 101 got us to Ventura in a little over an hour and from there on we hugged the coast with the Pacific Ocean on our left and the mountains on our right. Surfers all over the place in their wet suits (the Pacific is cold), kelp beds and fishing boats. Scenic is too cute a word. Postcard perfect does it.

Our first stop was the Wharf which juts out into the ocean and is full of eateries, t-shirt shops and a very nice Maritime Museum. We ate at Harborview, which aptly overlooks the marina, a major fleet of sail boats (nice to see!) and working fishing boats as they entered and left the harbor. The Land Shark also operated here, giving tourists both a land and sea tour from a surplus DUKW.

Our post lunch treat was a tour of the Santa Barbara Mission, known as the "Queen of Missions" amongst the 21 Missions still standing from Napa to San Diego. Built in 1786 by the Spanish Franciscans along the El Camino Real, The Kings Road, which linked these Spanish outposts, the road was 600 miles long and portions are still marked by CalTrans by roadside bell markers. Twin bell towers, gorgeous gardens with heirloom plant varietals and a large collection of artifacts graced by lovely original stonework make for one of the most photographed sites in California. And did I mention the view?

We cruised State Street which is a combination of Rodeo Drive and Main Street in our hometown of Westport, CT. Walking this shopping bonanza from the top of the hill to the beach would have emptied our coffers had Sarah not exercised major restraint! Superb window shopping.

We played tourist on the way home and left the 101 for the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) which literally hugs and follows the coast from Ventura to Santa Monica. Along the way we spied Zuma Beach and we stopped to pay homage to Neil Young's album, On the Beach, which features Zuma Beach as it's theme and album cover.

A lovely trip until the PCH dumped us onto the 10 at Santa Monica and our Gertrude Garmin told us to bail on the 10 and take back roads to the apartment. Even on the back roads, it took an hour to go 8 miles.

Welcome to everyday LA rush hour(s) traffic!

We had a nice post script ending, dinner with Jay and his girlfriend at Hugo's in Hollywood.