Malibu Mountains

Los Angeles day one was spent taking the Pacific Coast Highway north, through Santa Monica and Malibu, and then on to our destination of Ojai. Ojai is nestled in the mountains about an hour and a half out of LA.  It is a small town with lots of businesses selling arts, crafts and clothing. There is a law in Ojai preventing the opening of any big box stores to promote local business. We didn't buy anything but enjoyed browsing through the shops and then through a farmer's market. 

The main reason for going to Ojai was Bart's Books, which made it onto a list as being one of the best used book stores in the world. The book store is unique in that it is mostly an outdoor bookstore, with some books facing the sidewalk that are available 24 hours a day. Payment is made on an honor system.  I loved wandering around this truly awesome space. 

Part way into the Malibu mountains we stopped at a gorgeous Hindu temple built in honor of the Hindu god Venkateswara. We took our shoes off as required and wandered around, remembering to observe the sanctity of the place. 

Dawn had a couple of restaurants that she wanted to take me to. Breakfast was had at a Jewish deli in West Hollywood called Canters where I had a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs and lox (one of their signature breakfasts).  For our second meal we drove to Silverlake to a vegan restaurant called Flore where we ate tofu and kale on brown rice.  The restaurant was full so we ate al fresco; a real treat for a Canadian in December. 

It was a great first day.  Merry Christmas.