Entrance to the park in OjaiWe were really looking forward to visiting our favorite old bbq dive joint [Oak Pit BBQ] in Oak View, just a couple miles outside of Ojai... When we got there, we found it completely different than we left it a couple years ago. I guess someone bought it and renovated it. It’s no longer the homey, divey place we loved. Now it’s just a generic restaurant, nothing special about the new atmosphere. I wish I had a photo of how it used to be.
We decided to give it a chance anyway. The food was good, not great like we remembered. I especially missed the hand-cut fries they used to serve. Now they just serve regular old frozen fries—boring! And on top of everything else, we were too full after lunch to indulge in our favorite raspberry sorbet from the ice cream shop in town!
After we walked through downtown Ojai looking at some lovely art at the “Art in the Park” fair, we drove over to one of my favorite spots at Meditation Mount, where we took a walk in the peace garden and looked out over the Ojai Valley.
It really is a peaceful place! I saw this beautiful cactus bloom on the path.
There are working ranches, orchards and farms all over the place. We stopped to photograph this recently-bailed hay from outside Black Mountain Ranch. So beautiful. When I spend so much time in Los Angeles (after living there and visiting all the time) it’s easy to forget that much of California is rural.
Here’s a roadside produce stand in Fillmore. We stopped in and looked around on our way back to the city. Too bad we’re staying in a hotel or I would’ve racked up on some freshly picked strawberries!
