Last weekend we drove through the first big downpour in SoCal in several months to go spend a few days in Ventura. The real point of the trip was a DAY OUT WITH THOMAS (as in Thomas the Tank Engine, he's the cheeky one!) at the Fillmore Historical Railway.
We checked into a Motel 6, watched some baseball (Quinn kept saying "Let's watch races!") and the next day dawned beautiful and sunny. The drive from Ventura to Fillmore passes strawberry fields, fruit trees, and small towns. It feels very much like a mix between the area around Rainbow and the Salinas Valley.
Our first glimpse of Thomas on the railroad tracks elicited the expected excited chatter from the back seat. At last we parked, put on sunscreen, and headed over to the tracks. From that point on I think Quinn simply got overwhelmed by all the people, the full sized trains, the enormous tent full of everything Thomas, and the play areas full of the Brio-style trains and tracks where swarms of children rolled the little wooden trains around with varying degrees of politeness. When it was our turn to get on the big train for our ride with Thomas, Quinn was not ready to leave the play area. Oh the tragedy of not being able to understand the significance of a ride on Thomas! Maybe we should have skipped the train ride. In any event after a prolonged storm of tears, Quinn agreed to get on the train and enjoyed looking at all the railway debris piled up around the tracks and we talked about the fields of crops near the end of our trip.
By this time, dude was completely exhausted. We played with the trains a little longer and then packed ourselves back into the car for the scenic drive back. Instead of heading directly back to Ventura, we wound our way over a ridge and down into the Ojai valley, past Lake Casitas, and then around the backside of Carpinteria and Santa Barbara. Quinn slept almost the whole time. We couldn't believe how beautiful the drive was and resolved to return again sometime. Ojai is a gorgeous, artsy little town and the backside of Santa Barbara revealed Rancho Santa Fe-style compounds and beautiful homes with million dollar views. Amazing.
That afternoon we surfed C street and had fun jockeying with the locals while Quinn played in the sand and got to know the feeling of seaweed on his fingers. We tried surfing again Sunday morning by the tide was very low and the crowds had gotten 10 times larger. ah well, better luck next time.
We checked into a Motel 6, watched some baseball (Quinn kept saying "Let's watch races!") and the next day dawned beautiful and sunny. The drive from Ventura to Fillmore passes strawberry fields, fruit trees, and small towns. It feels very much like a mix between the area around Rainbow and the Salinas Valley.
Our first glimpse of Thomas on the railroad tracks elicited the expected excited chatter from the back seat. At last we parked, put on sunscreen, and headed over to the tracks. From that point on I think Quinn simply got overwhelmed by all the people, the full sized trains, the enormous tent full of everything Thomas, and the play areas full of the Brio-style trains and tracks where swarms of children rolled the little wooden trains around with varying degrees of politeness. When it was our turn to get on the big train for our ride with Thomas, Quinn was not ready to leave the play area. Oh the tragedy of not being able to understand the significance of a ride on Thomas! Maybe we should have skipped the train ride. In any event after a prolonged storm of tears, Quinn agreed to get on the train and enjoyed looking at all the railway debris piled up around the tracks and we talked about the fields of crops near the end of our trip.
By this time, dude was completely exhausted. We played with the trains a little longer and then packed ourselves back into the car for the scenic drive back. Instead of heading directly back to Ventura, we wound our way over a ridge and down into the Ojai valley, past Lake Casitas, and then around the backside of Carpinteria and Santa Barbara. Quinn slept almost the whole time. We couldn't believe how beautiful the drive was and resolved to return again sometime. Ojai is a gorgeous, artsy little town and the backside of Santa Barbara revealed Rancho Santa Fe-style compounds and beautiful homes with million dollar views. Amazing.
That afternoon we surfed C street and had fun jockeying with the locals while Quinn played in the sand and got to know the feeling of seaweed on his fingers. We tried surfing again Sunday morning by the tide was very low and the crowds had gotten 10 times larger. ah well, better luck next time.
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