I definitely made the perfect choice in my outing to Ojai yesterday. The hour and a half drive north was stunning. Ojai is a small little town with a gorgeous Main Street. There were beautiful adobe and stucco buildings everywhere. I found Bart's Books on a side street.
Bart's is an outdoor bookstore and a smile immediately crept across my face as I pulled up in my car. The first thing you see as you pull up is that the outside walls have bookshelves built in them. If you visit Bart's while they are closed they ask that you pay for these books by slipping money in a box. The "inside" is a maze of shelves, old tables and chairs, and succulants everywhere. I sorta just wandered through the maze smiling a goofy smile before i found the children's book section. It wasn't organized in any particular way, just a bunch of used books on a bunch of shelves. This made it more like a scavenger hunt so I spent a good 20 minutes perusing. I found some good ones, and fairly priced since this is a used bookstore, and made off with my purchases.
On my way home I had to stop in Ventura because of the beautiful pier and beach. As a native east coaster, I can tell you nothing beats reading a good book on the beach in February! A gorgeous 70 degree day, slight breeze, warm sun, and a delicious shrimp taco from the beach taco stand made a grand way to enjoy my new purchases.
As I drove home I also noticed that the harbor for the Channel Islands was in the area. One of the Channel Islands is "the" island in the book
Island of Blue Dolphins. I was thisclose to hopping a ferry over but decided to do that on another day. I mean, why not?
For all you LA folk, Ojai is definitely worth the day trip. And for my east coast friends, sorry about the beach photos!
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| Main Street Ojai |
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| "Inside" Bart's Books |
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| A Perfect Reading Spot |
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| Ventura Pier |
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| My Bart's Swag |
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I definitely made the perfect choice in my outing to Ojai yesterday. The hour and a half drive north was stunning. Ojai is a small little town with a gorgeous Main Street. There were beautiful adobe and stucco buildings everywhere. I found Bart's Books on a side street.
it snowed yesterday. boo urns. that bookstore looks AMAZING! adding that to my list for the next visit!
ReplyDeletereaders, in case you were wondering, as I was, what the reference to boo-urns was... (apparently I am still not the cool sibling)
ReplyDeleteObscure reference to the Simpsons: Monty Burns has just made a speech, and was getting booed out. When he asks his kiss-ass assistant if they're booing him, he replies "No, sir...they're saying boo-urns." He then asks the crowd, and they continue to boo him, save for Hans Moleman, who says "Well, I was saying boo-urns."
An exclamation, used in disappointment or excitement
"I lost the tickets to the concert."
"Ah, boo-urns."