Weekend Getaway: Ventura, CA
Hubby and I have been working particularly hard the past few months. He, on getting his Executive Protection business up and running, and I, on keeping the kids alive. Kidding, kidding. I have been working with my marketing clients more and more as of late, and... keeping the kids alive.
An opportunity arose for us to get away for a weekend and took it.
We arranged for my parents to watch the boys for the weekend, then spent exactly a day on figuring out where we were going to go.
At the top of my list was Catalena Island. Unfortunately, everything with any kind of view was already booked. We weren't going to Catalina to look at the backs of buildings afterall.
We thought about San Diego, Temecula, Morro Bay, Ojai, Big Bear, Idyllwild and even Vegas. Then, we finally settled on Ventura, CA. We decided on staying as close to home as possible, so that we could drive back in a flash if need be. Kids!
Our usual room at our favorite Inn in Ventura was booked for the weekend, so hubby, the master hotel finder, found us a wonderful suite at The Wyndham Garden Ventura Pierpont Inn.
The newly renovated suite was huge. It could have very well been a decent sized apartment. Big living room and work/dining space accompanied a lovely bedroom. We called this home for the next few days.
On the drive, we talked about exploring this and that, but quickly realized that all we wanted to do was enjoy each other's company, lounge, eat, drink and catch up on much needed sleep. We immediately switched into this carefree, sleep-all-day mode. Complete and total relaxation.
When we arrived at the hotel, we were pretty hungry. The gentleman who checked us in, suggested the Ahi Burger at Austen's Restaurant, located on the hotel's property. We finished checking in, took our bags up to our room, then leaisurly sauntered over to Austen's.
We ordered a few appetizers along with the suggested Ahi burger and were not dissappointed. As promised, the burger was incredible. Think, Kogi, but much, much better... and not a truck.
The Bloody Mary was tasty as well. But be warned, their Bloody Mary's are quite spicy.
After dinner, we went back to our room and did absolutely nothing. Well, not nothing. I got to read a book for the first time in 3 years, and hubby got to play with his brand new Nintendo Switch without having to share it with a little 3 year old gamer. Let's not forget the nap! Mama got to take an uninterrupded 4 hour nap!
Later that night, we ordered a pizza, watched part of a Star Wars movie marathon and went back to bed. Slept through the night... halelluja!
We had a slow start the following morning. Not because we were tired, but because kids or no kids, we are conditioned to wake up at 6am. So we lounged in bed for a couple of hours before heading back down to Austen's Restaurant for breakfast.
The restaurant was even more lovely in the morning. The view of the ocean while having that first sip of coffee in the morning cannot be beat.
My hubby is a talented photographer, which is a blogger's greatest asset. The best thing about his talent is that he enjoys it so much. He refuses to turn it into anything monetary as he fears it will lose it's appeal. But, I do get to reap the rewards.
As we walked back to our room, belly's full, he scoped out a few fun backdrops for a photo shoot. Who am I to say no to a photo shoot? I can always use some new material for Instagram.
After breakfast and photo shoot shenanigans, we both had to come back to reality for just a little while to get some important work done. Our hotel room provided a wonderful space that was conducive to work, right next to a huge window overlooking the ocean. Working from the comfort of our home is a beautiful thing, but working from a room overlooking the ocean is even better. (See video for the view)
We worked, we lounged and finally, we got hungry.
We had lunch at Brophy Bros, a wonderful little restaurant overlooking the marina. The weather was just right to sit outside on their upstairs patio. The food was divine, and very reasonably priced. We ordered the Hot Combo and Cold Combo to share.
One word of advice, their Bloody Mary's are not, I repeat, not fabulous. Doable, just to fab.
As we wrapped up our lunch, we decided to do a little shopping in the marina, right below the restaurant. There was quite of bit of construction going on at the time, but we still enjoyed all of the little shops and walking by the dock.
Our dinner plans were simple. Sushi.
We looked through the myriad of sushi restaurants on Yelp, and went with one that was only about a 5 minute drive from the hotel. Kibo Sushi is not impressive from the outside. Nor is it really that impressive inside. The sushi, however, very good.
I have to say, the best thing about our random and sometimes completely spontaneous getaways is that we truly enjoy each other's company. What a wonderful way to spend time enjoying each other.
