How to have the Best Summer in Ventura

by Visit Ventura Featured image by Josiah Roe

Once, a wise man named Robert Fulghum wrote a bestselling book called “All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” Like kindergartners, it was simple — and not so simple. Share everything. Play fair. Clean up your own mess. Hold hands and stick together. Draw and paint and sing and dance. Take a nap every afternoon. Be aware of wonder. Hmmmmm. Be like the little people. Possibly great summer advice.

Share Everything

Summer means our surf spots are a little busier. Out in the water, a sharing attitude is welcome and noticed. In the end, your sharing attitude will actually see you get more waves. Besides, what’s the hurry? If you’re on vacation, you’re a kindergartener in the midst of a very long recess.

Play Fair

We’re all here in Ventura to have fun (refer to draw and paint and sing and dance), but that doesn’t mean anyone’s fun is more important than anyone else’s. There is real joy in sharing a harbor-view table, or just being plain nice. Venturans do it all the time. And when visitors do it, well, they become part of our community. And that feels good.

Clean Up Your Own Mess

Our beaches are beautiful, and it’s so easy to keep them that way. Pack up what you packed in. We have trash cans, but honestly, they’re not always a guarantee. The wind blows trash out of the cans, and the gulls pick it out too. It’s really helpful to pack out everything you can. Plastics are particularly bad if they get blown into the ocean. And please pick up after your canine companion. Thank you!

Hold Hands and Stick Together

Our lifeguards are sometimes approached by small ones, crying and unattached. Children are adventurers — it only takes them a second to walk off.

Draw and Paint and Sing and Dance

Because none of this is meant to be a lecture — it’s only meant to make summer better for all of us. You’re welcome to sing and dance anywhere, but if you didn’t think to bring an easel to the beach, think about making something out of the artistic tools you have at hand. The possibilities are, well, impossible to imagine.

Take a Nap Every Afternoon

Ahhhhhh. Lazy summer. You won’t need any help with this. The National Sleep Foundation suggests that a short nap of 20 to 30 minutes is best for “short-term alertness.” But frankly, it’s summer. Nap as long as you want and be as alert as you please.

Be Aware of Wonder

It’s everywhere; if you’re on the beach right now, it’s right beneath your feet. The sand teems with countless diatoms and other microorganisms; large concentrations of diatoms give the sand a golden sheen. Casually impress your family or friends.

Think Back

Summer isn’t all lazy bliss. Sometimes people aren’t nice. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you’d like them to. If the going gets mildly tough, take a deep, salty breath. And remember…

Wrote Fulghum: “Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten.”

You Be You

Venturans are much like kindergarteners. We specialize in easy, wide-arm welcome. Have a look and listen. And, well, welcome!

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