Lucky us!!! We have this wonderful family ready to greet us tomorrow. I took this last March on the day that Lola the German Shepherd came to live with them. 

64 days.
33 campsites.
a gazillion new sights and experiences.

I have loved every day of this trip, but I'm ready to get to San Diego tomorrow.

And I'm ready to go home next Tuesday.

Thanks to my dear Alan!

There are fine particles of black sand which make this interesting pattern when an especially big wave receeds. The surface is flat. 

 

How is this for a campsite? It's too bad about the fence, but we are very high above the beach. Best to keep us from falling off. This is at Carlsbad, about 40 miles north of San Diego. We have had a lovely day of decompression. The roar of the surf is wonderful.

I was so attached to Highway 1 that I wanted to see it through LA to the end.
Starting from Santa Barbara, here is what we saw:
Ventura
Oxnard
Malibu ("27 Miles of Beautiful Beach")
Topanga Beach
Santa Monica
Venice
Marina del Rey
El Segundo
Manhattan Beach
Hermosa Beach
Redondo Beach
Torrance
Lomita
Wilmington
Long Beach
Seal Beach
Huntington Beach
Newport Beach
Laguna Beach
Dana Point - and that's where Highway 1 ended.

Yes, it took a long time, but WAS NOT STRESSFUL! Even though
our trailer is very small, it adds a level of trouble when
driving on strange freeways.

This is the only photo I took on our trip through the megalopolis that is LA. We tuned in 105.1 and it was great. 

Two different guide books told us that La Super-Rica was Julia Child's favorite Mexican restaurant and that it was reasonably priced. So we headed there, of course. I was surprised at what we found. The food was very fresh, with a woman making tortillas. It was fun to try to picture 6 foot tall Julia striding in. 

We did a walking tour of downtown Santa Barbara. I didn't get any good pictures of the shopping area, but it was lovely. There was a big earthquake in the 1920s and all businesses were required to rebuilt in a Spanish style. 

Do you suppose we will be seeing this on Water St. in Decorah at our Bank of the West?!? I'm sure bank robbers will be happy to cooperate so they can get better photos. 

Do you see what half the people in this group have around their necks? Not for me... 

Just as I was about to get a great portrait, someone came too close and the pelican launched himself. 

Looking back at Santa Barbara from the wharf. 

At the base of the big downtown Santa Barbara wharf, the group called Veterans for Peace has been setting up this display every Sunday since November, 2003. They call it "Arlington West". There is a cross for every dead American (Star of David for Jews and crescent for Muslims, but I didn't see any of those). My photos cannot give a real sense of how moving this was. A carpenter in the group makes the markers. The man we talked to said the carpenter has been especially busy lately.

 

Sunday we "did" Santa Barbara, as much as one can in 1/2 day. First sight was this huge skateboard park. 

 

 

The Elephant Seals were packed together even more tightly. 

(This was written two days ago, on Saturday, but I couldn't get an internet connection to post it then.) Faithful readers of this blog will remember that I was rather hung up on the idea of seeing a cougar. I've gotten over that, but for the last week, I have been passionately hoping to see a Sea Otter. Alan has been very patient as I insist on scanning every kelp bed with binoculars. Today it happened. We saw the first one from our car (!) while parked at a turnout. Then we went back to have another look at the Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas. And there was another Sea Otter. (It was too far away for a good picture - this is tightly cropped.) We spotted both of them because they were lying on their backs, pounding at their chests with their front paws. Bang, bang, bang, very fast. We couldn't exactly see the detail, but we know that they are one of the few mammals who use a tool and that they were using a rock to open a shell or smash a sea urchin. They have made a comeback because of the areas that are protected for them. I have to do some research, but I believe the biggest threat to them was over-fishing of Abalone. They live their entire lives at sea, hauling up on shore only during storms. 

 

This morning on the beach we got closer than we ever have to vultures. These two were cleaning up a dead gull. On our first night here, we were in Cambria at sunset and noticed a tree with many vultures coming in to roost. Then we noticed that white egrets were landing in the same trees. As I tried to photograph them (unsucessfully - it was just too dark), a man passing by told me that these are Eucalyptus trees and it is thought that the oil of the trees keeps down ticks for the birds. He also said that his father tells tourists that the vultures are "Cambria Eagles". They walk away mumbling that they never heard of those before. 

Barb is our GPS unit, the third party on this trip. She is a Garmin IQue 3600, built into a Palm Pilot. Very powerful, but also a very steep learning curve. These are her night colors, they change during the day.