Road Trip Part One

Last Saturday we took off for the coast to go to my sister's going away open boat/dock party celebrating their upcoming escape to go live in La Paz-on their boat. How's that for moving, just sail away in your house?
Road trips from Bakersfield to the coast are really really boring for the first hour or so. The freeway from town to the interstate is straight and nothing much to look at but farmlands and the occasional house or cow. Soon after you join up with the interstate you go up into the mountains which for the first few miles are pretty and very steep. The hills are starting to turn green with the recent mountain snow and the pass going up 'the grapevine' as the road is called is narrow and pretty. That is until you get past Frazier Park and the view is just hill after hill. No trees, even thought you do pass through a national forest, just bare hills that are still brown from the hot summer. Once you come down out of the mountains, you get onto Hwy 126 which goes through 'Heritage Valley' with lots of lemons, oranges, fruit stands, ranch houses, and Piru, Fillmore, and Santa Paula, three historic old towns founded back in the early ranching and railroading days of the late 1800's. Much more pleasant of a drive than the interstate.
Ventura is a really pretty town with a mission downtown, nice pretty beaches, and a backdrop of hills and mountains. And trees.
This is the boat that is soon to be on it's way to Mexico, and a view of all the party goers. I also included a view of the mountains as seen from the dock. Notice that most people have beer or wine in their hands, dock people are pretty big partyers and don't need much of an excuse to grab a beer and have a party.
Stay tuned for Road Trip Part Two