Sea, Surf and Southern California

---

We can hardly believe that we will be flying off to China in a day's time, and yet at this point, it is inexorable. We have been so immersed for so long in a camping, wilderness or VW fixing world, that any other kind of life is but a dream. But, theoretically, we will get off the plane in China in a large city called Chengdu, and start acting like typical tourists. I hope we don't accidentally try to drive off with somebody's van and head for the hills. We don't really know any Chinese, but have big plans for how we will use our time on the airplane—13 plus hours is a long time, I'm sure you can learn the rudiments of a language and plan an itinerary in that amount of time. As you can see, we will be winging most things while we are there, following our typical plan of following our noses to interesting places and events, and hoping to have an adventure along the way. We hope that Gillian, Amanda's sister, feels the same way, as she will be traveling with us the whole time (unless things go awry).

Our last trip update found us sailing down the freeway into San Diego, escaping the heat of the desert. And escape the heat we did. Our first three days in San Diego were rather foggy; we couldn't even see the sun and happily donned long pants and shirts. Apparently the weather pattern is such that when it is very hot inland (and we knew it was), the coast stays foggy and cool with trapped ocean air. It turned out to be very lucky that we arrived early in San Diego, as we had several things to take care of before we could move on, and they took longer than we expected. First, our poor camera. After taking it to a repair shop and waiting a day for the diagnosis, we learned that it was not a problem that could be fixed locally; such a repair would require sending it to the Pentax factory, and that process could take anywhere from six to eight weeks. So much for photographing anything from the rest of our trip. As a result, Lance researched new camera bodies on-line, and found one for a fairly reasonable price. It didn't seem as reasonable to us as it would have if we were buying the camera for the first time, but we decided it would do. It was shipped to us, and has arrived barely in time to take with us to China. Getting the camera shipped required a bit of nail-biting, as the company called us every day for three days to verify one piece of information or another, each time saying it would be shipped immediately, only to be delayed for some further phone verification. Finally, Lance issued an ultimatum, and the camera was indeed sent. We are happy to be able to take pictures again, although are a bit sentimental about the places that were missed, recorded only in our memories.

Our van went through its second round of fixing up in San Diego as well. Fortunately these problems were not as severe as the radiator blow-up, but they did require several days to complete. One fine day a noise which had been bothering us for some time was finally put to rest. This was a relief as we had alternately wondered whether the front tire, the shock, or some piece of the front brakes was about to fall off. Paying to have someone look at it ended up seeming like a very good idea. Happily the fix was easy. What was not so easy was the problem in our exhaust system. Somewhere in New Mexico Vangogh had started back-firing, making that loud gun-shot crack every other time we compression braked (if you don't know cars, I'm sure someone can explain it to you, as Lance has for me....). Worrying what else this might signify, we decided to replace a portion of our exhaust pipe system where Lance discovered a large break. In the theme of fix-it yourself, Lance ordered the part, and after the weekend, it was delivered to San Diego (all those weekends lengthen how long it takes to fix your car on ordered parts). After pulling off the bad pipe, things didn't go quite as well when Lance tried to put everything back together. It was very difficult, and Lance was a model of appropriate behavior given the situation, but finally Vangogh had to be towed after all. We laughed in spite of ourselves, and were happy that at least we didn't have to wait beside the road, and had a way to pick up the van once it was ready, thanks to my aunt and uncle. At last all the parts were put back together (but not before we learned that the ordered exhaust part was unusable, and had to be shipped back to its sender), and after a week's time, we could go on the road again.

Happily, working on the car was not the main reason we went to San Diego. Amanda's aunt and uncle (on the Schmidt side) were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, and we were able to be there for the celebration. I have not often had the opportunity to visit my California relatives, and so it was very special to share this occasion with them. The party was lovely, an outdoor affair in their garden with fine food, engaging company, and a jazz trio. Lance got to meet the last of my cousins (whew!), and I got to reconnect with them and their children as well. Other memorable moments included the toast, with the honored couple sharing a touching testament to 50 years of marriage and loving another person, and later dancing to the live music with my aunt and her comrades, a spry, enthusiastic group. When we finally pulled out of town, leaving San Diego for the last time on our trip, we had many great memories of our time with these people to take along with us.

We had thought to use the time between San Diego and our China departure to go backpacking, looking for a bit of wilderness before the chaos, however it turned out to be too snowy in the high country of the Sierras. At the last minute we decided to head to the ocean instead, and drove just north of Los Angeles where the surf is supposed to be good. Lance was pleased, as he had not used his surfboard in many weeks, and the weather turned our way. Our route took us through the coastal section of LA, and after a while of creeping along the freeway, we decided to seek a smaller road. We ended up at the famed Venice Beach, which actually is on the beach. It was however, not our idea of a beach, aside from the basic elements of sand and surf. The beach itself was not overly crowded with people, but there were more than enough nearby along the boardwalk (a large cement walkway), where crowds browsed knick-knack and souvenir shops. One could hardly see the ocean from here with the various stalls, parking lots, and even an outdoor gym in between, and the main activity seemed to be participating in a kind of sidewalk carnival. Being the devout outdoor types that we are, we soon left, commenting to one another that at least we could now say we'd seen Venice Beach. Our exploration took us north from Santa Monica, along the coast below the Santa Monica Mountains, a beautiful area where the lush green hills come steeply down to meet the sea. We took our time exploring a variety of beaches, happy to find plenty of state parks. The coastal weather was perfect, the water temperate, and the beaches offered both plenty of rocks and tide-pools for Amanda and surf for Lance. At evening, we followed a road up into the hills overlooking the ocean and found a lovely spot off a fairly quiet road to spend the night and enjoy the views. There were several homes not too far away, and after noting their superior style and situation on the bluff, we also spent time speculating about how expensive it would be to own one (hard to imagine how we could ever afford one).

By late the following afternoon, we had made our way to Ventura. Lance was a bit sore from all his surfing and so we decided to look up friends of the family who live in the area for some more restful recreating. We were once again very lucky to be the recipients of great generosity, and spent two nights visiting these friends of my uncle's whom I had never met before. Their beautiful house is set right at the edge of the sand, the waves crashing just below the deck, and the many large windows in each room facing out to the dramatic surf and sea view. The water was so tempting that the following day, even I ventured out into the water, opting for a boogie board rather than a surfboard. We still wore wetsuits, but the difference between this and the Northwest waters was not negligible. One could stay out for some time in the water without numbing your extremities. We spent time here in and out of the waves, watching the changing tides from the deck, and getting to know our wonderful hosts. Lance could also talk shop with the young man who lived here, a good surfer among a pool of good local surfers, all of whom were an inspiration to watch.

Our last stop in this region of California was just north of the town of Ojai, in the Los Padres National Forest. We picked a place site unseen, having only read about it on the internet, but when we arrived, we were quite pleased. The mountains rose over 3000 feet above sea level, and were covered with lush manzanita and cottonwood vegetation up to their rocky summits. Luckily we found a campsite on a Saturday night, somewhat amazing considering we were but an hour and a half from one of the largest cities in the US. We went for a hike the following day to explore an interesting rock formation called Piedras Blancas (very reminiscent of Utah rock, except WHITE sandstone) and the adjacent river valley. We started our hike with gusto, but it wasn't long before the high temperatures slowed us down. The wildflowers were abundant and brilliant, and the stream seductively clear and deep, providing us little reason to hurry along. We ended up spending the middle part of our day in the creek itself: inspired by our canyon hiking in Utah, we left our extraneous clothing and shoes behind, and clambered up the creek largely in the water, oohing and ahhing over each blue-green pool, and testing them for swimming possibilities. Our final evening in the woods for awhile was at the now quiet campground from the previous night. We enjoyed surprisingly brilliant stars and a tumbling creek in the evening light, reflecting on how much we've enjoyed being continuously in the wilderness, and hoping that the urban crush of the earth's most populous nation won't undo us.

---