Ojai, CA - Nov 2014

Ojai Valley Inn and Spa

Simran and Shawna had been discussing going to Ojai, CA for a couple of years but the boys were not motivated to go.  We were both interested in going since we watched the show "Brothers and Sisters" which was based in Ojai.  So, Simran planned a girls weekend to Ojai with two friends of hers in CA (Jen and Kara) and when she invited Shawna, Shawna responded with a 'hell, yeah"!

Shawna flew into San Fran late on Thursday night from Hartford as she had been in Hartford all week for work.  When she arrived at Simran's house, they chatted for a few minutes and then crashed for the night.

On Friday morning, we had a light breakfast at Simran's house and then drove (with Jen) to an airport north of Marin where we met up with Kara and flew via a private plane to Ojai.  Kara's husband, Chuck, owns his own 6-seater Cessna - it was such a treat to get this personal service.  The flight took us about 2 hours and it was beautiful weather along the way.  We flew into Santa Barbara, got a rental car and then drove about an hour to Ojai.

Traveling in Style on Chuck's Plane

After checking into the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa, we got a light lunch at the spa cafe and then relaxed at the spa - Shawna got a facial while the rest of the girls got a massage.  Feeling relaxed and content, we then got ready in our rooms and had an early dinner at Maravilla, one of the hotel restaurants.  The food was good but pricey and the restaurant was a little too fancy for our taste; the dessert, however, was outstanding!  Kara and Jen were not feeling great (both had colds) and Shawna was pooped from being on East Coast time so after dinner, we went back to our rooms.  Shawna and Simran attempted to watch a movie in the room but both fell asleep multiple times during the movie!

On Saturday, we had breakfast at The Oak, another hotel restaurant and attended a core class in the gym.  We then walked downtown and did a wine tasting at Ojai Winery followed by shopping in the Arcade Shops.  The wine was tasty so Shawna bought a case of 3 different whites!  We grabbed lunch in town at Suzanne's, each having a yummy salad.

We then returned to the hotel to enjoy the spa again - this time Shawna got a massage while everyone else had facials.  Simran and Shawna thought their appointments were at 4pm but got a call at 3:05pm to ask where we were.  Apparently, our appointments were at 3pm - luckily, we were only a few minutes away so we made it there in time to enjoy the full treatment!  That evening, we were lazy so opted to eat at the hotel.  We had drinks at Jimmy's Pub and then split a bunch of appetizers and one entree at The Oak.

Selfie!

On Sunday, we had breakfast at The Oak again.  Jen and Kara decided to attend an aroma blending class while Shawna and Simran walked downtown to check out the farmer's market.  The market was nice with lots of produce and some other goods like honey, pies and nuts.  We met up with Jen and Kara for a drink at one of the outside cafes and then drove back to Santa Barbara to meet Chuck for our flight home.  Before leaving Ojai, we stopped by The Farmer and the Cook (a Simran find) to get some communist (aka vegetarian) burritos and tacos to take on the plane.  When we got back to Simran's house, Rakesh had cooked dinner for us and so we enjoyed a very tasty meal of lamb, mashed potatoes and spinach.  Marwa joined us for dinner as well- it was great to catch up with him.

Farmer's Market in Ojai

On Monday, Shawna worked out of Simran's house and then Simran drove her to the airport to fly back home.  The weekend was amazing - Ojai was very pretty and relaxing and of course, Shawna had a great time hanging out with the girls!  We decided that this must become an annual tradition and we already started to scheme on places we could go next!

Flight Back to San Fran Had More Bags!