Anytime we travel, we always try to work in at least one hike. Since we love hiking as a family, we always enjoy checking out the trails in a new place, and being able to see the local vegetation and terrain.
Ventura is nice little beach town, so we thought it would be fun to hike on a trail which paralleled the beach. Emma Wood State Park is a huge beach area off highway 101 which includes camping, and hiking trails. We decided to go on a really easy trail with the kids which we picked up at the group camp-grounds. The trail was paved, and it attracted many families on bikes, as well as serious bike riders. Walking on this trail wasn’t as peaceful as we thought it would be since we had to be very aware of the bike riders. If you are looking for a more serious hike, there are plenty of trails away from the beach. If you just want scenery, this is a great trail for beach views.
The total hike was about one mile. It parallels the beach, and the railroad tracks, which is fun if you have a child who loves trains! Although my kids are on the older side, they still enjoy seeing a train go by. We saw two trains pass while we were there, and the kids stopped to wave at it as it went by.
This beach has a lot of stick structures which beach-goers have made over time. It’s fun to sit inside one of the tee-pees or climb on the rocks which line the back of the beach. If you are along the coast in Ventura, this is a fun beach day! You can do an easy hike, enjoy the scenery, watch trains go by, and enjoy the beach! We even saw people fishing, so I assume you can do that too!
Stay tuned for more coverage from our road trip to Ventura!
Is it crazy hot where you live? It’s in the high 90’s, low 100’s here in the San Francisco Bay Area right now! It’s so warm, we are all melting! In order to escape the heat, and also take one last quick trip before school starts, we decided to take a mini road trip down to Ventura.
If you are not familiar with the California coast, Ventura is a small beach town south of Santa Barbara. It’s not super crowded, and it has a large harbor, good restaurants, and plenty of cool fog! Love fog right now!
Our first day in Ventura felt so good. It was roughly thirty degrees cooler than at home, and we actually felt a little bit cold. This was such a good thing! We left home in the morning and drove for five hours down the coast. We arrived in Ventura around 2:30pm and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Four Points Sheraton near the Village, which is a small shopping area next to the boat harbor. It has shops, restaurants, and a carousel which was closed-boo for us! It was a nice place to stay since we could walk to the restaurants, and enjoy harbor views.
We ate dinner at Water’s Edge, which is not in the Village, but a short walk on the other side of the harbor. The food was out of this world! I enjoyed the “Trophy Pasta” which was crazy good-and my family really enjoyed their meals too. If you are ever in the Ventura area, this is a restaurant you will want to visit! The views of the harbor are beautiful, you can watch the sunset, and the food is really yummy. Love that!
Shop my casual denim look:
We packed more into this weekend getaway! Stay tuned for more from Ventura!
You might be looking at this post and wondering why I am writing about the Powershot Canon G7X Mark II on a fashion, style, and beauty blog. Well, it does tie into fashion-I swear! Just keep reading. . .
One of the big things that hurts my back when I attend New York Fashion Week, or when I am traveling, is carrying around my heavy DSLR. Fashion week and travel in general, require a lot of standing and walking. To alleviate the back pain and shoulder pain I experience when traveling, or attending fashion week, I needed to lighten my load. That load being my very heavy Nikon DSLR.
Last January I did some research. I found out about this amazing camera which could replace your DSLR. The Canon G7X Mark II is this tiny little point-and-shoot camera which packs a ton of power. It has all the settings a basic DSLR offers. You can go from auto mode to manual mode. You can adjust the ISO, the f-stop, and more! While you can’t switch out the lens, the built-in zoom lens has enough “zoom” to get clear and crisp close-ups of the runway, outfits (pose at that painted wall!), and travel sites.
On my Nikon DSLR, I have to go into the menu and scroll through it in order to adjust my ISO etc. It is time consuming, and sometimes I can miss the shot because I am fiddling with my camera settings. When it comes to travel and fashion week, speed is of the essence. The Powershot Canon G7X Mark II has this fabulous dial underneath the dial which lets you switch modes. This dial lets you quickly adjust the camera according to the light-without going into a menu to adjust your settings. This is a huge game changer in situations where the light keeps changing and you need to be speedy to get the right shot.
Here is an example of a photo I took of a model walking the runway at the Son Jung Wan show last February during fashion week. My Canon G7X Mark II did a great job of capturing a moving model. I was also able to adjust the settings quickly for the tricky lighting. Another thing that was tricky about this shot was her jacket. It has sequins, which are difficult to photograph; especially on a moving object. I thought the camera did a good job considering I was shooting from my seat and not the photographer’s pit.
The Canon G7X Mark II is also great at capturing depth and color. Here is a photo I took in Hawaii. One of the breathtaking things about Hawaii is the shades of blue in the Pacific. The ombre waters are stunning, and I feel like the camera did a great job capturing them. I purposely focused on the water and blurred the lava rocks. I like how it turned out. Who knew a point-and-shoot could do this?
In addition to being able to adjust the Canon G7X Mark II like a DSLR, it has a flip up screen which allows you to shoot in selfie mode. Sometimes you want a higher resolution selfie; or maybe you just want to have some fun. Either way, the flip up screen is a lot of fun. You can see a selfie taken with my Canon G7X Mark II below. I took this selfie with my daughters on a recent hike. We had fun flipping the screen and turning it in order to get the view in the background. My DSLR definitely does not do that!
DSLR Alternative
All in all, the Powershot Canon G7X Mark II is an amazing alternative to a DSLR. It can switch from auto to manual mode. The camera comes with easy to follow directions, and there are plenty of YouTube videos out there to help with specific settings that might not sound logical in the manual. I found it easier to learn than my DSLR. Despite not being able to change lenses, the built-in zoom lens is adequate for travel, blogging, and taking runway photos from your seat.
You don’t have to be a blogger to use this camera! So many people bring their DSLR to their children’s sporting events, talent shows, plays, music performances etc., the Canon G7X Mark II is a great alternative which can take beautiful videos and photos. The resolution and quality rivals a low to medium level DSLR. It also offer wi-fi capability which is great for uploading photos to a laptop or iPhone while on the go.
Lighten your load! The Canon G7X Mark II is compact and lightweight. I can carry a smaller handbag at fashion week, and when I travel, than I did back when I carried around my DSLR. The small size is great for travel, and it won’t break your back. Love that!
When I purchased my Powershot Canon G7X Mark II, I also bought a large memory card and a second battery. It’s always nice to have a back-up battery when traveling in case you take a ton of photos all day and need to swap the battery. For a memory card, I recommend Lexar. They make great cards. Always get a big one to store videos and keep yourself from running out of room while traveling.
Shop the Powershot Canon G7X Mark II camera and accessories online:
I am in love with this camera, and I take it everywhere I go so I can snap photos of my kids, and to blog! If you have any questions about it, please feel free to ask in the comments below, or shoot me an email.
Thank you so much for your support!
XOXO
Cathy
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