Tori and I have adopted our first dog! Her name is Ginger and is a three year old German Shepard Mix. She is very sweet and loves car rides!
We adopted her on Friday, August 26th, from the San Diego Humane Society in Oceanside. We actually went to see another dog that we saw on the website, but we ended up with Ginger after hanging out with her for awhile. We performed a DNA test and discovered that she is 46.2 % German Shepard, 30.2% American Pit Bull, 5.1% Rottweiler and 18.5% Supermutt.
In the middle of the summer heatwave, Tori and I drove up to Ventura on Monday for a short getaway to the central coast. It was a nice surprise to find cool weather and a heavy fog when we arrived. After checking in to the Motel 6, we walked into the nearby downtown to explore. Our first stop was the Mission San Buenaventura and its museum. It was the ninth California Mission and the last to be established by Father Junipero Serra in 1782. The Spanish Mission system started to break down in the 1830s when the Mexican government secularized the missions and sold them to private owners. By 1895, only the church remained as the surrounding mission buildings were demolished. Inside the still active parish church is a marble-cast replica of the Pieta, my favorite Michelangelo sculpture in the Vatican. The original is behind bulletproof glass so it was cool to be able to examine this life-size copy up close.
Walking along the pedestrian-only Main Street, we stopped at the Bank of Italy, Cocktail Trust for a drink and a small bite to eat. We shared some garlic bread and the Chopped Kale Salad (radicchio, spiced garbanzos, fennel salami, fontina cheese, brined peppers, cherry tomatoes, and bergamot-thyme dressing). The salad was so delicious that Tori and I came back two days later to order it again. Highly Recommended! In nearby Plaza Park, we visited the giant Moreton Bay Fig. The native Australian tree stands 73.5 feet high with its branches spreading over 139 feet and a massive trunk that is 8 feet 8 inches wide. It was planted in 1874, the same time as the giant fig tree in nearby Santa Barbara.
The coastal fog was still heavy along the beach as we walked along the Promenade and out to the end of the Ventura Pier. First built in 1872, it is the oldest pier in the state where it served as a commercial wharf until 1914, importing lumber & building supplies and exporting farm products & crude oil from the Ojai Oil Field. Ventura was one of the major oil producing areas in the state and there are still about 3,800 active wells in the county. Walking back, we stopped at Barrelhouse 101 for a couple beers.
Even though the sky cleared briefly, the fog came back before we drove up to the Serra Cross to check out the sunset. The view was completely obscured so we drove back down the hill for dinner at Spencer Makenzie's where we sat at the bar and shared their fish and shrimp tacos. Both were very delicious with the Spencer Sauce! On Tuesday morning, we drove over for breakfast at Pete's Restaurant and a latte at Singing Sun Coffee. Knowing how much I hate having sticky fingers, Tori had me pose for a photo outside the Sticky Fingers Bake Shop. Ha!
At 1pm, we drove up to Santa Barbara for wine tasting in the Funk Zone, the former industrial zone near the waterfront that is now full of restaurants, galleries, breweries, shops and wine tasting rooms. We started out with a Zinfandel at The Valley Project and enjoyed chatting with the bartender before moving down to Corks n' Crowns where we sat out on the sunny deck with a glass of wine and a small cheese plate. We ended up at Riverbench for a Pinot Noir. The 2018 One Palm was very good!
For dinner, we walked next door to The Lark where we shared three dishes, the Brown Butter Cornbread (wildflower honey, rosemary), the Picked Summer Vegetables (spicy picked okra, dill pickled radish, wild foraged ramps), and the Wayne Farms Buttermilk Fried Chicken (anson mills cheddar grits, chile de arbol honey, b&b pickles, scallion). The pickled okra was perfect to counter the richness of the other two plates. For desert, we had the awesome Salted Dark Chocolate Ganache (charred stone fruit, aerated vanilla corn cream, smoke pecan crumble, basil). Driving back to Ventura, we just missed sunset at the Serra Cross but we enjoyed the pink sky of twilight and watched the city lights come on as darkness fell.
On Wednesday, we drove up to Ojai, the small artistic town in the nearby Topatopa Mountains where chain stores are prohibited. Tori and I visited the Ojai Meadows Preserve and walked around the little downtown. We were passing the Ojai Post Office Bell Tower at noon when it peeled out a long musical tune on the 65-foot tower's amplified Westminster chimes. We were not very hungry so we skipped lunch and just ordered tasty smoothies from Rainbow Bridge Natural Food. Since my check engine light came on and my AC stopped working on the drive to Ojai, we drove back to Ventura early.
While Tori took a quick nap, I visited the Ventura City Hall that was built in 1912 as the county courthouse. In 1974, the city purchased the building and it became the town hall. There is a great view of downtown and the ocean from the front steps. With clear blue skies, I drove back up to the Serra Cross for a better view of the city. In 1782, Father Junipero Serra raised a wooden cross on the mountain overlooking his newly established Mission San Buenaventura. The current cross, the 4th, was raised in 1941.
At 3pm, Tori and I walked back into downtown for our second Chopped Kale Salad at the Bank of Italy. Still awesome! After the light meal, we walked along Main Street, visiting several of the many local Thrift Stores. Back at the motel, I called my mechanic and we were able to determine that it was safe to drive my truck back home to San Diego after I borrowed a check engine light reader from another guest. For a late dinner, we went to Paradise Pantry near the mission for panini sandwiches. Tori had the Roasted Turkey and Pesto while I had the Grilled Cheez with caramelized onions.
Driving home on Thursday, we stopped at the Camarillo Premium Outlets for a few hours before heading down to the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles. While we waited for our dinner reservations, we walked over to the new 6th Street Bridge crossing the Los Angeles River. It replaced the original viaduct bridge built in 1932 that was shown in countless television shows, commercials and films. When the new one opened this year. it caused a bit of a stir on social media because of the undulating arches that light up at night with different colors. We were seated as soon as the Girl & the Goat opened at 5pm. We have been wanting to try the new restaurant by Chef Stephanie Izard, the winner of Top Chef Season 4 for awhile now. It's her first outside the city of Chicago.
With a couple of cocktails, Tori and I shared the Naan & Dips (tahini tofu, carrot hummus) and the Sautéed Green Beans (fish sauce vinaigrette, cashews) which were so delicious! For her entrée, Tori ordered the Pan Roasted Redfish (spiced tamarind-shrimp broth, crispy rice salad). While I had been eager to try the Goat Curry, it was unavailable this night so I had the Grilled Skirt Steak (sichuan peanut sauce, pickled cucumbers, fresno chiles) instead. While the base proteins were excellently prepared, what pushed both dishes over the top was the amazing sauces and toppings that brought so much extra flavor. For desert, we shared the simple but tasty, Sesame Cookies and Cream Scoop (sesame caramel, chocolate crunchies). On our drive home, we lucked out with hardly any heavy traffic!
On our day off from work, Tori and I drove down to Imperial Beach for a hike in the Border Field State Park. Our trail started in the Tijuana River Estuary which is the largest coastal wetland in Southern California and sits on the international border of US and Mexico. The majority of the Tijuana River flows through Mexico before crossing the border and emptying into the sea through the estuary. While a major source of wastewater pollution into San Diego over the last hundred years, the US helped pay for a sewage treatment plant in Mexico in the late 1990s to help clean up the river. While not up to the same clean water standards of the US, the amount of raw sewage has been greatly reduced except for the major spills during seasonal storms. In 2020, the new NAFTA agreement included 300 million to further clean up the river and improve the treatment plant.
While the road to the Friendship Park of the Californias on the border is now closed to cars, we parked on Monument Road and followed the paved road west. Halfway to the beach, the trail became a dirt road through the center of the dry salt marsh. In the distance, we could see into Mexico on the other side of the tall border fence. South of the river mouth, we crossed over a small stream and emerged onto the beach where an old concrete pillar of a former life guard tower rose out of the sand. The waves were large and extremely rough. We had planned to return back to our car at this point, but we decided to continue along the South Beach Trail. Walking toward the border fence, we could see the Tijuana Lighthouse on the hill growing steadily larger.
At the border, the metal fence extends 300 feet into the ocean as the incoming waves splash along its length. On the hill, we could see the large bullring, the Plaza de Toros Monumental. The beach on the US side was empty but it was quite crowded on the other side. In October of last year, a group of 70 people tried to swim around the end of the fence all at once and a woman downed in the attempt. A friend of my father's lives in Playas, the Mexican beach town on the other side of the border. When my brother and I stayed with him for a week, we used to walk right up to the border fence from the other side. Walking back to our car, we almost stepped on a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake crossing the center of the road. The total hike was 3.5 miles.
Leaving the state park, we entered Imperial Beach and parked at the northern tip of the Estuary. We were hungry and thirsty, so we ordered cocktails and a shared appetizer at the IB Forum Sports Bar. It's been forever since we've had potato skins. After our break, we headed north to the Imperial Beach Pier and walked out to the end and explored the rest of the small downtown. For dinner, we sat at the bar of the Brigantine and shared a plate of their famous fish tacos. We watched the sunset before heading home.
Update: 5/14/22
On Saturday, we met up with our friends at Mission Bay for a beach bonfire in the quieter Sail Bay. We parked at the Fanuel Street Park and walked down the boardwalk to Riviera Shores Beach on the west side of Crown Point. We arrived just before sunset so the lighting was beautiful.
Kenny brought a smokeless firepit and it worked great. Normally my clothes stink of smoke after a bonfire but they still smelled clean afterwards. We had a wonderful time chatting and roasting Hot Dogs over the fire. A couple walked over from a nearby vacation rental to ask if they could use our fire for S'mores. They had an Uber deliver marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate so they shared their extra supplies and we all had some of the sticky treat.
