Our Day in Foggy Ventura, California

In our quest to see as many of the National Parks as we can, we researched Channel Islands National Park, to discover that you have to take a boat to get there and that it is comprised of several islands and that would take several trips to explore them all. So we opted to go to the Visitor’s Center which is located on the mainland in Ventura. I was pleased to see that the official National Park sign was there which means that I was at this park and can check it off my list – and my new shirt! (more on that in another post).

Every National Park has a reason for existing and Channel Islands National Park preserves what is unique to these isolated islands, as well as in the water surrounding the islands. There is a lot of wonderful history and biology and cultural anthropology to study there. The visitor’s center gave us a nice overview with their exhibits, but someday I’d like to have the opportunity to explore the islands themselves. Friends of ours got to kayak around the islands and explore some of the caves there. That would be a cool trip!

It was too foggy to be able to get more than a glimpse of the islands from the observation tower at the Visitor’s Center

Images of some of the wonders of the islands. The park provides live feeds to cameras on the islands!

There are 5 Channel Islands, each with their own unique characteristics and treasures

These yellow wildflowers are said to be so bright on the islands that they can be seen sometimes from the mainland

Next stop was the historical Ventura Pier. Again, we ran into fog on the coast so we couldn’t see much, but it was still nice to be there.

Too foggy to see the end of the pier

We could make out a little of the beach

As we got further out, it got foggier

Enjoyed watching this pelican catch his lunch

Lots of signs explaining the history of the pier

And lots of seagulls and other sea birds

We only had one day to spend in Ventura, so of course we had to check out one of their local restaurants. We found very good reviews for the Taj Cafe – voted the best Indian food in town and we were not disappointed. The manager was very friendly and gave us a table for two at the front window. It was an enjoyable ending to a very nice day.