Tuesday, 9/27 - Enroute to Ventura

This was another "National Park Trip".  This one included trips to Channel Islands, Pinnacles, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Joshua Tree National Parks. All are in California, but not necessarily close to one another - we expected to drive at least 1500 miles to see them all.

We flew into Santa Barbara and out of Palm Springs.

The first day had a very rough start (for me).  I managed to screw-up the reservation in Monterey (not all my fault...).  And ended up having to rebook and forfeit a fair amount of money ($600).  Details of "my tale of woe" are at the end of the journal.

 So, I was in a pretty foul mood all day.

The flight to Denver was fine, but we were delayed in Denver when they discovered a "scratch on the plane" - first time I've heard that one.  But we eventually flew off and got to Santa Barbara only a little late.  We were also delayed there as they were cleaning up the minivan we asked for.  (It turned out to be a Dodge minivan which was really stripped down - it didn't even have the outside temperature and I had to actually use a key - so retro..)

The drive to Ventura was fine, very pretty along the coast at sunset, but there was enough construction to keep it interesting.

We had booked rooms at a Holiday Inn Express at the harbor.  It was easy to find, but kind of strange.  It was under renovation.  One wing was open, but the other wings and what looked like a convention center were all under construction.  The one wing that was open appeared to be mostly empty - I don't think there were more than 20 people staying there.  (The desk clerk decided to not charge us for parking due to the construction - $20/day and I don't think there were ever more than 6 cars in that 100 space lot).

We were greeted at the front desk with a sign which basically said - the hotel can't do anything about all the noise the sea lions make during the night - they live in the harbor and are protected.  I guess we're not in Indiana anymore....

We drove to the nearby marina shops area (Ventura Harbor Village) and had dinner at the Boatyard Pub.  It was good and I found an 805 beer, which was my go-to beer for the trip.




Link to next post:  9/28 - Ventura

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