After the infamous surprise party and cleanup (Sprinkles cupcakes, it turns out, are called Sprinkles for a very good reason – we may be cleaning sprinkles off the floor and furniture for months to come), Chuck whisked me off for two days of sybaritic delight at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa. This place is heaven, pure and simple. We had a suite with a private balcony and a view of the grounds. We had two massages (one for each day we were there), and I also got a facial. *sigh* The spa facilities were to die for, and included wet and dry saunas, an inside and outside jacuzzi, a full dressing area with complimentary everything – you name it, they had it!

We also went for a bike ride that illustrated the sad fact that we don’t ride them enough. Our sit bones were incredibly sore after only 15 miles. But the bike trail – wow! It goes from Ojai to Ventura (it’s pretty much downhill all the way to Venture – but then you have to turn around and ride uphill all the way back). We ate dinner one night at Maravilla, a crazy good, if expensive restaurant, and then ext night at the more casual Oak Cafe.

We contemplated taking up permanent residence, but decided that even if we sold everything we could probably only afford to live there for about a year before we ran out of money and they tossed us out onto the mean streets of Ojai.

All in all, it was a great birthday weekend!