I like to take periodic trips to the beach. Vacations to exotic far away and exciting places like Paris or Cucamonga are all well and good, but they can be stressful and require a lot of effort. A beach vacation is relaxing.

In this case, we went to one of my favorite places, Oxnard. Now, Oxnard is a bit of an armpit; it is a farming community with fields, poor housing tracts, a power generation plant, a naval air base and the occasional barn. There is virtually nothing to do there.

As you get close to the ocean some nicer neighborhoods spring up, as happens near any ocean front property. In the middle of this nicer area is a single hotel. Most of the hotel rooms in this hotel do not face the beach; they point inwards into courtyards or out across the surrounding housing. But if you know what to ask for, you can get an ocean front room, looking directly out over a beautiful white sand beach where the surfers can walk on water.

We got there around sunset and arrived in our room just after the sun had disappeared. There is a patio that has the primary view of the ocean, but there is also a smallish window in the bedroom with wooden shutters that looks directly out toward the channel islands. As I entered the room there was this marvelous red splotch in the middle of the pale green decor of the room; the window viewing the remains of the sunset.

Dropping a suitcase on the bed I whipped out my camera and took this picture.

It isn't much, but does sort of capture the flavor of what it is like to have a room that opens directly onto a beach at sunset.

I haven't been there in a couple of years. I would like to go back.