ojai/ventura weekend trip

the awesome family celebrated the last day of school with a trip to the country cousins for the weekend. yes, the Ojai Valley, where a unique blend of people coexist (more or less) with nature and each other. where you get your food from the mountain people's co-op, trader joes, or the back yard. we weren't invited to Jacko's casino party in nearby Santa Ynez Saturday night, so instead we went to Eric Ericcsen's (see review) on the pier at Ventura:

...and talked about the "not guilty" individual instead. Ventura has some interesting places and a good farmers market Saturday mornings, but for a large part it's ugly and utilitarian. I did enjoy the sculptures and talking to the artists with their works in progress at Art City:

there are a lot of gems like this hidden away in "San Buenaventura". but I digress, let's get back to the meal. for dinner I had charbroiled (rare) Ahi with an olive oil and green something or other sauce. with pilaf and veggies it was a nice light meal complemented by a glass of pinot blanc (sorry, forgot the brand -- sheesh, what kind of review is this?!) for dessert we decided to get fancy and went to the luxurious Ojai Valley Inn. there we had a really good chocolate delicacy described as:

"Valrhona chocolate fondant with raspberry coulis brandy chocolate sorbet".
anyway, it was a fun weekend with sailing, kayaking, pinball, pool, darts, tennis, oil painting and last but not least -- banjo pickin'!
if anyone cares I'll post more about whatever, just ask :-)