It is our last full day in California, and we are ready to explore and have some amazing family fun. Ventura is about an hour’s drive north of Los Angeles and is home to approx. 110,000 people. It is known for its beaches and the long wooden Ventura Pier. Unfortunately, we could not visit the Pier as it was under construction when we were there. We started the morning with a drive to see some of the beautiful beaches of Ventura. As we were driving, we spotted some dolphins in the water near the shoreline, so we found a place to pull over and watched their pod swim around for a bit. They were so entertaining to watch.
After our dolphin watching, we headed downtown and drove around Ventura to see what else we could find. We stopped at a few stores, then returned to the hotel to get our bathing suits and head for a swim in the ocean.
This was the first time the girls and I swam in the ocean. Any place we have visited has always been too cold for swimming, but the water here was decently warm. We all had a blast being pushed around by waves and trying to jump with them until a bigger one came and dragged us to the shore. We had to laugh at Jeff as he ended up with a scrapped-up arm trying to “ride” the waves a little too close to the beach, and it basically just dragged him across the rocks on the bottom. Leah is more of our daredevil, so she loved being out deeper with Jeff, where there were more giant waves, and Kay and I preferred to stay knee-deep closer to shore. Even then, the ocean is so mighty that it can still push and pull you around.
When we were done swimming, we returned to the hotel and hit up the pool one last time. It was a warm saltwater pool, so it was pleasant and relaxing.
Supper time, and we found a nice-looking restaurant, Social Tap. The atmosphere was good, and we enjoyed the food most of all. By this time in our holiday, the girls were getting tired and ready to head home and sleep in their beds, so everyone was a bit cranky. But we managed to finish supper and walk back to the hotel so we could start packing our bags. This was such a fantastic holiday, and we built many family memories. I can say this is a place we all want to come back and visit.
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