For my Sunday Funday, I decided to trek to Ojai and get my drink on at the 32nd annual Ojai Wine Festival with my friends Lena, Nicole and Fred. All proceeds supported the Rotary Club of Ojai-West Foundation.
So I am not going to lie to you guys: wine festivals are expensive. I have seen them go $125 and up. So when I saw that the Ojai one only cost $53 pre-sale for unlimited wine (over 60 represented wineries), beer (35 craft breweries), music, vendors and a free boat ride on Lake Casitas, I was all in.
This was my first ever wine festival I have been to since I moved to California. There was a similar one that I attended called Fork & Cork Classic that supported the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County a few years ago, but the difference was that food was included in the admission.
To play it safe, we Ubered on up to the Lake Casitas Recreation Area. The last time I was at the lake was a few years back when I hiked the area. At the time, the lake was at full capacity because the drought hadn’t kicked in yet.
The temperature was about 85 degrees when we got there, oh my god was it hot! The umbrella that I brought helped cool me down slightly. We sampled a ton of different wines from Viognier and Chardonnay to Pinot Noir and Cabernet and mingled with some attendees.
We later ate some burgers and watched patrons dance to the band.
As we made our way down to the lake, Lena took a photo of me as I lead fearlessly.
The boat ride lasted about 25 minutes and I was able to feel a light, cool breeze. Lake Casitas is man-made and about 3 miles long, 240 feet deep and is a main water source for most cities within the Ventura area.
Below are some photos I took of the lake. You can also see a cross in the background in one of the photos and the festival in the other. You can also check out my Instagram page for some video of the boat ride.
Cheers! 🙂
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