A view of the harbor in Ventura from Brophy Brothers restaurant.

One evening last week, we visited long time friends in Ventura and went out to dinner by boat after a harbor cruise. What an enjoyable evening and a great escape from a humid hot afternoon. We are on our annual beach vacation to escape the heat of the desert. Unfortunately, there’s been warnings of excessive heat most days and there are few places with air conditioning on the coast. Finally the heat warnings are over and our last few days at the beach should be ideal.

This is a view from inside the Duffy boat of our friends’ neighborhood. It’s called “the keys” and homes are on the water throughout several inlets. Everyone who lives here has a boat parked in their back yard.

I’m not aware of many neighborhoods with boat parking, although there were a few in Washington state where I grew up. Lake Washington and the San Juan Islands definitely had boat docks in front of homes.

The Bougainvillea below the restaurant was beautiful!

This is our friends’ Duffy boat parked at the restaurant. They use the Duffy to cruise around their neighborhood and drive to dinner in the harbor. It’s a cute little boat. They have a big boat too, that they take to Catalina Island.

A few gulls hanging out on the docks.

I’m getting homesick and I’m ready to leave the beach for the desert. Just a few more days and we’ll be home sweet home!

Do you get anxious for home after vacation, or do you want vacation to last longer?