Happily back in San Diego after a couple of days up the coast in Ventura.  The little roadtrip was planned back in September as a pre-Christmas shopping trip scheduled around a billable court appearance but ended up just being a rain-drenched driving nightmare sandwiching an otherwise successful little hearing.  

There was some anxiety about the scheduled trial, because the judge at our September settlement conference seemed skeptical of some of our legal arguments.  Even more anxiety when I showed up at the courthouse and found there were fifteen cases on our particular judge’s calendar for that afternoon, and began to worry if I had enough clean socks and undies to deal with a continuance.  Then when checking in the clerk let me know that because of the scheduling crunch we were being transferred to a different department down the hall.  The new judge, my new most favorite judge, loved our legal arguments, and the hearing was a breeze.  And easily the best part of the trip.

The rest of the trip was simply a rain-soaked disaster.  Most Californians simply can’t drive safely in the rain, and despite a major storm with high winds most Angelenos still seemed to be trying to navigate the highways with a cell phone in one hand and a latte in the other.  The 170 mile trip took 4 1/2 hours to make.  I lost count of the number of totalled cars on the sides of the highways, but loved the semi on the 5 in Los Angeles that managed to block all four southbound lanes after it hit the center divider.  Too bad the camera was in the trunk.  Fortunately his debris only blocked one of the northbound lanes I was using.  

Even walking around Ventura this morning there was snow visible on the nearby hillsides and I almost killed myself sliding on the frozen timbers of the Ventura Pier.  

This isn’t the way a trip up the California coast is supposed to go, even in December.  This wasn’t even Central California.  This is the weather I abandoned in DC and Idaho, and now it’s followed me here.  Maybe I should have tried for a restraining order while I was at the courthouse.

Spending the night in downtown San Buenaventura (aka Ventura) after a day of participatic in mindless formalities for the judicial system.  Main Street here has a nice mix.  On one hand is eclectic retail like antique shops, consigment shops and used book stores.  On the other is a wide assortment of restaurants. 

But never the two shall meet.

The retailers mostly have very limited hours, like 11-5 and not on Tuesdays.  The restaurants might be open, but what’s the point of going for dinner at four in the afternoon at my age.  Maybe the two halves work well for the lunch hour, but at dinner it just seemed like a mess of wasted opportunities.  Especially considering the number of things in the windows I would’ve considered buying if the shops were open.