Daily Archives: April 24, 2010
Pacific Coast Highway…
Today was our Pacific Coast Highway road trip.
Two years ago this past March we drove the first part of the PCH where it starts at San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point, up thru Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, and ending up in Long Beach. I sense a trend here.
We stayed at an RV Park in Long Beach right on the Pacific Ocean. That’s us on the far left.
And here was our view out the other way. The Queen Mary.
Anyway, today we drove into LA and got on the PCH near Playa del Rey and headed north.
Coming thru Venice Beach we encountered this strange sight. I’m not exactly sure why a CVS pharmacy has a transgendered clown on its marquee, but it is Venice Beach, after all. But this explains it further.
Coming into Malibu we decided to stop for brunch at Marmalade Cafe right off the PCH. The place was really good, really yuppie, and really expensive. Jan had a short stack of blueberry pancakes with bacon and I had a tortilla scramble. And it was $33!
Leaving the cafe, we headed north again. About 3 miles down the road we came across the Malibu RV Park high on a cliff overlooking the PCH and the Pacific Ocean.
What a view! We may have to think about staying here a few nights when we come back this way next year.
Moving on along the PCH we started encountering some of the really scenic areas.
This shot I think I’ve seen in a lot of movies and TV shows. It’s Point Mugu.
Reaching Santa Barbara, we turned around and headed back, this time taking a different, more scenic route. Rather than go all the way back down to LA and back up, we cut across thru the Los Padres National Forest, to Ojai.
This is Lake Casitas, a 420 sq. mile lake that’s over 1000 ft up in the mountains, and it’s really a great view.
Along the route we passed thru Ojai (pronounced ‘O HIGH”), I had heard of the Ojai Valley before, and it’s easy to see why. It’s just one big garden. Tree farms, nurseries, fruit orchards with lemons, limes, and strawberries, sod farms, you name it.
Leaving Ojai, we passed thru Santa Paula, Fillmore, and on to Santa Clarita on I-5 Then it was a straight shot back to Lancaster and home, a total trip of about 300 miles.
Tomorrow will be a ‘rest up” and “get ready to travel” day, since we plan on leaving here Monday morning,and moving north about 230 miles closer to San Francisco.
More Later.
