July 28– August 13, 2024

We would start this relatively short seventeen-day road trip with a couple of objectives.  First would be to see a good concert, second to spend a few days at home before heading north to Oakland where after a couple of days we would take off for Oregon with Jessica and Gemma and make two stops, the first at Kamp Angst and the second in Bend at my brother Chuck’s.  It would be a good trip.

As we’ve been visiting Kamp Angst since before our marriage, over 42 years, Jessica spent a lot of time there when she was young, but not after high school.  And she’d never been to Bend so this would give her the chance to see both places and introduce Gemma to Kathy, Tom, and her great Uncle Chuck.  For starters though we traveled up to Ojai on Saturday to spend the night at the Oakridge Inn in nearby Oak View so that we could attend a concert that night with Kim and Marty at the Libbey Bowl with Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers. 

Our stay at the inn came about as while checking out hotels in Ojai, we determined that prices were a bit steep, and I remembered there being less expensive accommodations down the road towards Ventura.  Our stay at the Inn at $133 for the night would cost us roughly a third less than any place we could have stayed at in Ojai. 

After checking in at the hotel, we enjoyed a drink with Kim and Marty and then drove into Ojai for dinner at the Ojai Beverage Company, a wine, beer and liquor emporium that also operates a restaurant.  After we were seated, we ordered a cocktail apiece, for me the Mullholand Sunset (Mullholand Gin, Vida Mezcal, lemon juice, pineapple juice, and angostura bitters) while Joanna enjoyed The Empress (Empress Gin, cucumber, agave nectar, and lime juice).

To eat, we went for the Cubano in Ojai (slow braised pork, honey cured ham, roasted garlic, Swiss cheese, dill pickles and spicey brown mustard on a fresh baked hoagie roll) with a side of Cole slaw, an incredibly good version of this sandwich, a type of which we have consumed many, most disappointing.  This one though restored our faith in the genre. 

We settled our tab, which came to about $60 per couple as we shared a Cubano apiece and three of us had the Mullholand and left with a smile on our faces.  It was about a half mile walk to the park which we passed through to reach the bowl, a fantastic venue which seats just 973 for concerts along with additional capacity on a lawn area overlooking the bowl that can accommodate between 200-300 audience members.

We last saw Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers when we lived in Charlotte at one of our favorite venues there, the McGlohon Theater, a former church also with a small capacity.  With a mixture of his hits and a few longish jams that highlight the talents of each of the band members, if you are like me, you will walk away remarking that it was one of the best shows you’ve ever witnessed. 

We closed out our stay the next morning with breakfast in Ojai at Bonnie Lu’s Country Café in the heart of town.  Along with our coffees, Joanna ordered Walter’s Egg Benedict (English Muffin, two poached eggs and ham topped with Hollandaise Sauce) while I went for the usual, Shelly’s Veggie (Tomato, mushroom, spinach, onions, and Swiss cheese).  While the food was quite good, prices were steep with both our choices coming in at $21 apiece, making for a $60 meal once you add in tax and tip. 

We finished up and stopped to do some hat shopping at a nearby store and once back at the car Marty asked if my motor was running.  Sure enough, I’d neglected to turn it off and thus it was unlocked, with all of our stuff in it (including my laptop) and so we got lucky on this one.  Our Highlander is a Hybrid and runs on the electric motors when you first start it and when it is at idle, so it can be easy to not notice it is still running. 

We returned home for four nights, closing them out with dinner at Pacos, our favorite L.A. Mexican joint and then hit the road Friday morning for the drive to Oakland.  After unloading the car and setting up shop at the house, we all piled into the Highlander for a ride across the bay to San Francisco for a fun night at the Lucky Strike Lanes a bowling alley chain owned and operated by the Bowlero Corportation.

We were there because John, a good friend of the kids, whose company had booked the venue for an employee event, let them know there was confusion with the date and no one from the business could attend.  Thus, we got to do so instead.  We’d have a few hours there to bowl and eat a supplied buffet of pub food and free drinks.  It would be the first time bowling for Gemma and three her pals from day-care, an activity they all seemed to enjoy. 

We had access to two lanes and on one they had installed bumpers in the gutters so that regardless of how poorly aimed a throw was, it would stay on course and actually hit the pins.  The kids did remarkably well and as the drinks flowed and the food got consumed, so did the adults.  Eventually our time ended, and we closed out the evening, driving back to the house for a good night’s sleep before Jessica, Gemma, Joanna and I would depart for Oregon the next day.  We’ll cover that in the next post. 

Links

Oakridge Inn: https://www.oakridge-inn.com/

Libbey Bowl: https://libbeybowl.org/

Ojai Beverage Company: https://ojaibeveragecompany.com/

Bonnie Lu’s Country Café: https://www.bonnieluscafe.com/

Lucky Strike Lanes: https://www.luckystrikeent.com/location/lucky-strike-san-francisco