Ventura Botanical Gardens

The sun peering through the blinds is what woke me up on Monday mid morning. The prospect of walking in hot weather pushed me to get up and head to Ventura Botanical Gardens by 10:30 with two kids in tow. I hurried because I foresaw walking in the sweltering heat. As I drove I realised, I forgot I live in Ventura. It was overcast as I drove through Ventura exiting on California. My oldest asked, “why is there no sunlight here?” Because we are close to the coast and the marine layer is thicker I said. It is great to live in Ventura County.

It took less than 15 minutes to park and start walking from the moment we left our place. We got lucky that morning. We walked right into a wedding! It was grand. Shout out to the musicians that played during the wedding.When they exchanged vows, I told my daughter that her mom and I had done the same thing but in a different place. My oldest daughter proceeded to tell me that she wanted to get married in Philadelphia where she was born. I wanted to laugh.

We mulled around until my daughters asked me to explore. My wife had previously taken them and they wanted to follow the same trail. I told them we would be taking a different trail, one through the Ventura Botanical Gardens.

From the main road to one of the trails to the top of the mountain was fairly manageable. My six year old climbed at a good pace and my two year old was on my arms. I stopped occasionally to switch hands until we made it to the top. I took a moment to learn how to take panoramic pictures.

It was nice to look at plants throughout and little critters. The marine layer started to burn off right about the time we made it back down. We stopped and took a few more pictures on the way. Fellow hikers were very friendly.

Afterwards we headed to Main St. to drink juices from Blenders In The Grass. The kids enjoyed them. My six year old inhaled hers while my two year old did not finish hers. I ordered the Power Greens but I was not a fan of the pineapple sherbet in it.