Riding on Rails with Sisters – Sunburst Railbikes

When I found out that one of my sisters who doesn’t live locally would be in town for a few days this spring, I wanted to have her experience all the things that I love about spring in Ventura County. Many of them were ultra-local (coffee on my front porch, coffee in my garden, coffee with our other sister and mom, walks in my neighborhood, Pizza Friday at our sister’s…), but I wanted to do something more, I wanted to share a piece of this county and remind us of why this spring time moment in this area is so incredibly special.

Riding the railbikes with Sunburst Railbikes was the absolute perfect thing for so many reasons.

Bikes are my vacation go-to. Always.

A bike tour or getting rental bikes, a surrey or a tandem bicycle is kind of my go to “vacation” thing.  Whether it’s Morro Bay or Pismo or Ventura or the orange blossom infused bike tour that led to us moving to Ojai, being outdoors and experiencing a place on bikes is such a fun experience!  Since my ultimate goal is to convince my sister to move here one day, I thought an orange blossom infused bike ride would be the perfect thing.  Sunburst Railbikes was ideal, the tour was led by guides who started and ended the bike “train” by starting and finishing the procession of electric bikes that followed the train tracks through the sweet smelling Santa Paula orange groves and avocado orchards, to a picnic area of citrus and eucalyptus, back to Prancer’s Farm to experience the true connection to Ventura County agriculture and ending where we began at the Santa Paula Rail Station centered next to the Ventura County Agriculture Museum and the gorgeous gardens connected to them.

Orange Blossom Obsessed

As I mentioned, the orange blossoms really impacted me and drew me to the Ojai Valley.  Our mother grew up on an orange ranch in the Central Valley, and orange groves have always had a deep resonance on my family’s life.  Recently, my sister and I were talking about our love for magazines like Southern Living and Southern Lady, and she brought up the fact that one thing we like so much about these magazines is the deep rooted sense of place and history they showcase.  Articles centered around using your grandmother’s china, or propagating roses from your mother’s rose garden, traditional recipes from your family, all center around carrying on a sense of generational pride and tradition that speaks to us.  Orange blossoms hold the same deep rooted sense of place we feel in California that resonates in our homemade bread and our Cecil Bruner roses.  Riding through those orange groves with my sister, wind in our hair, and the scent on the breeze was a California sensory experience I can only hope everyone gets the chance to experience. When we left the depot (adjacent to one of the most gorgeous rose gardens you’ll ever see), we crossed the main street, the railroad crossing gates falling for us, dinging, light flashing and stopping traffic for the approaching “train” which was us in our railbikes, we waved like royalty at the waiting traffic, exclaiming in glee when folks waved back, and booing when they did not, repeating as we crossed smaller streets, the 126 freeway and the tiny farm roads. We wanted to make sure everyone was recognizing the fun excursion in hopes they could try it one day too!

Picnic Perfection

We ordered a picnic from Sunburst for our expedition.  I had placed our orders, laughing when I realized that my sister had ordered the exact same lunch that I had.  At the end of the line, we stopped at a clearing with a group of picnic tables set into the citrus groves, facing a row of eucalyptus trees and a view of the mountains.  We settled and dug into our lunch boxes, insulated with ice packs to keep our tuna sandwiches and waters cold.  We tore into our Kettle chips, enjoying the crunch of the chips along with the crunch of the celery and red onion and fresh lettuce in our sandwiches.  A picnic is another thing that feels so familiar and traditional.  Enjoying food outdoors, especially after a bit of exercise makes everything taste so good and feel so much more rewarding.  At the end of the tour, I went back to the office to return our nice insulated and branded lunch bags, only to find out that they were included in the package with lunch.  I look forward to many more happy bike rides and picnics with those lunch bags at the ready!

Agricultural Connection

We started our pre-trip warm-up by visiting the Ventura County Agricultural Museum as it was right outside the depot when we arrived a little early.  We wandered the exhibits and the gardens, admiring the beehives, the farm equipment and the demonstration of the rich history of farming that has developed Ventura County. We flipped through the gorgeous matted vintage fruit crate labels exclaiming over each one.  Finally I landed on one, a bright blue lake and mountain scene that said “Arbolada”.  I pulled it out.

“Arbolada, arbolaaahhhdaa.. what did Dad used to say, or sing about Arbolada again? I can’t remember it quite…” I asked my sister while wracking my memory.

“Abolaaaadooo” My sister sang in response. “Remember? He went to summer camp there when he was a kid and whenever mom would make cocoa too weak for him he would sing it, because the camp made terrible weak cocoa that he always told us about!”

I remembered, now, steaming mugs of powdered milk and hot water and cocoa, and dad singing Arbolada, depicted here in a beautiful fruit packing label.  I immediately knew we had to bring home this little piece of California history depicted so that our other sister and mother could share in the memory.

And as we made our stop at Prancers Farm, we were taken in by the animals, the farmland, the beautiful produce for sale.  We decided to pick ourselves some strawberries so we paid for our carton and the woman went out to show us where we could find the strawberry fields, as she pointed and gave directions she ended with, “behind that farmhouse to the right of the dump truck and.. well you’ll see them.”  We thanked her and I clarified over my shoulder as we walked down, “they’re the red ones, right?”  It took her a moment to realize  I was joking.

We picked our strawberries, agonizing over how to get the best and after filling our carton we were impressed upon how hard it is to pick berries and how thankful we are to farm workers dedicated to getting such gorgeous produce to our tables.  After looking at our beautiful little carton and finishing our picking time we realized we had way too many kids at home for our picking power and went back to buy the flat.

Ventura County Gratitude

As we finished our ride, I was just so struck with all that the Sunburst Railbike tour had gifted me with.  From the agricultural museum with ties to both of my parents and grandparents’ histories, to the beautiful gardens, to the sweet scented orange groves, to the plentiful picnic, to the sweet farm animals and juicy strawberry picking, to the Santa Paula wind in our hair, we experienced gifts to all our senses. What a gorgeous connection to our county, to our history, and to experience together.