Stumbling upon new sites.


My husband's birthday was this past Sunday. So, naturally we celebrated all weekend. He came home on Friday afternoon after being gone for work all week. My daughter and I spent the morning putting up some decorations, making cards, and procuring a cake (we ended up getting 3... because... go big or go home, YOLO, the world is our oyster...).

In addition to a chiropractic appointment to soothe his ancient body (mildly joking on the ancient part), I bought him a 4 person tent. For some reason, we haven't done much camping since we've been together, and definitely have to start from scratch with the gear. So, I thought a decent tent is a good start.

I had made grand plans to go visit some flower fields in Lompoc that I had heard about. According to the website, it was a good time to go see the blooms. We had originally planned to make the 2 hour trip out there on Sunday, but then changed our mind and went Saturday.

Our first stop was at Cajun Kitchen Cafe. We had to wait for a bit, and it was cold and windy, but the food made up for it. We had beignets to start and for lunch I got the Cajun combo, which included cornbread, gumbo and red beans and rice. The cornbread was perfect and came with a side of apple butter. The gumbo was fantastic. My husband ordered Jambalaya with eggs and really enjoyed it.

After lunch, we headed to the fields.... but.. not flowers. Upon further research (which I guess I should have done before we drove 2 hours), I discovered that most of the flowers had been cut.

On the way out, we noticed a sign mentioning Jalama Beach, with no outlet. The drive was 14 miles on a 2 lane road but as soon as we reached the end, it was gorgeous. Beautiful skies and blue water reached out into the horizon. The road snaked down to a modest campground. We paid the day fee and walked the beach for a bit, trying to ignore how cold we were. Our 3 year old is adventurous and kept begging to play in the water. We convinced her to look at rocks with us on the shore. We decided we'd definitely be back soon for some camping. I feel like it was pretty serendipitous to stumble upon that beach after having no luck with flowers. That tent will be put to good use this year.

The following day we acquired picnic foods and drove to a little campsite in Ojai that also has a nice little playground and grassy area. The site sits in front of a little creek. My husband and daughter went and explored the creek area while I kept watch over our picnic stuff. I got antsy and packed up, then set off to find them. We wandered around a little bit and I got to take some fun photos.

I'd say it was a near perfect weekend!

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