Today’s shout-out goes to Earle along with a big thank you. It was great to stay in a house instead of a hotel and to cook a meal (grilled turkey cutlets, grilled asparagus, and potato salad). We found the nicest grocery store and the cashier took pity on us and gave us the store chain’s discount card. She saved us $25.00. So, Malibu can be a friendly place. We went to a winery yesterday, too. That was fun and casual, and we are bringing some of the wine back with us. Dennis and I each went for a ride in Earle’s hot rod (see picture) – it was fun and different than driving my speedy but comfy car. You could really feel the road in the open hot rod. Earle built it himself – it’s cool.
Zoom Zoom!
Before we went out for all of that fun yesterday, we went to the beach (El Matador State Park)for a walk. It was very foggy but not cold – or at least not cold to us, the locals were all wearing coats or sweatshirts. The hard work in this beach walk was getting up and down the 78 steps and the steep ravine. Walking on the beach I found a few stones to bring back for my collection. The foggy conditions and the rocky shore made for some nice photos. Here are a few.
We did not take photos of the beach activities we saw. One group of good looking young people was doing some kind of video shoot – a pirate sort of thing. All of the people coming down to the beach kept getting in the way. But what else can you expect on a public beach? The other group we saw was a mom, dad, grandpa, and twin boys (about 6 yrs old) and another man with lots of gear. They were carrying red things that looked like letters of the alphabet. When they got down to the beach, they gathered around one of the large rock formations and I noticed that they were all wearing blue or white or blue and white. The man with the gear began to unpack – he was a photographer and the red letters were J-O-Y. They were shooting photos for their Christmas cards! What a fun idea and what a handsome family. We did not take a picture of them doing the photo shoot. Dennis thought that would be an invasion of their privacy.
This morning we were up early and on the road by 9:00. We drove south on the Pacific Coast Highway to I-10 and headed east. Even though we were past the rush hour, traffic was very intense! We focused on getting out of the L.A. area and then tried to find a place to stop for breakfast. We had planned to head up to the North end of the Joshua Tree National Park and got into the area pretty early. So instead of finding a hotel, we headed to the Park to get a map, do a little sightseeing, and make plans for tomorrow.
When we got to the Park, we discovered that part of our plan would need to be altered. We planned to spend the whole day at Joshua Tree tomorrow walking and driving from the north to the south end of the park and then joining I-10 to head into Arizona. The southern part of the park road was washed out this spring and they have not yet reopened it. So we toured one part of the park starting at the Joshua Tree (West) entrance and then came back up on the Twentynine Palms side to find a hotel in Twentynine Palms.
We went to the Keys View overlook from which you can see the San Andreas Fault. We were at 5800 feet above sea level and the view was astonishing. The park information platform clearly showed where to look and noted that, if we came back in a year, we would be standing farther away by two feet. What a strange thought – and you can’t even feel the ground moving (and it’s not Dennis’ fault!). We took a few photos at that location.
We went on to Cap Rock to do a short walk through the huge rocks and the Joshua trees. The Joshua trees totally captured my imagination. They looked like people frozen in a variety of positions. I took lots of pictures but we are only posting a few of trees and rocks. Tomorrow we will go to see the Arch Rock and the Cholla Cactus Garden. Due to the road being closed we will be adding many miles on to our route tomorrow, but we will still cross into Arizona. And we will post some more about the fabulous Joshua Tree National Park.
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