Day 7 - The PCH, Malibu & Santa Monica Pier

The Pacific Coast Highway (referred to the PCH by the locals) is the highway that hugs the pacific coast of California.  It is a beautiful drive.  On one side is the view of the seemingly endless Pacific Ocean, sandy beaches, and small sea cliffs.  On the other side is the view of the vast mountainous landscape.  In Santa Monica, large homes with gorgeous views were nested in the mountains.  It was an amazing drive!

The day started with breakfast and swimming, of course.  Jason managed to get off work around noon, so we all grabbed some lunch and headed off for a drive.  This was not the original plan for today.  Jason was supposed to have a meeting in Anaheim but it was rescheduled for another day.  Originally, we were going to go with him to Anaheim hoping to get a peak at Disneyland.  Maybe next week!

We had a long but enjoyable drive.  The kids didn’t even complain… much.  Once we exited off the boring highway through L.A., we entered into some farm country.  I’ve never seen so much land consumed by strawberry plants!  And there were people out picking as we drove passed.  I wanted to join them long enough to collect a small basket of berries myself.  We also passed lots of cabbage, a sod farm, and others.  It was refreshing to see so much farm land in the Los Angeles area.

Our drive led us to the Pacific coast – to the well-known Route 1 – the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH).

We pulled off the first chance we could to see the ocean.  It was amazing!

The beach here was a little rough.  But sites were amazing!  A seal was swimming in the water right before our very eyes!  And as if that wasn’t exciting enough, we then saw dolphins!!!  Two of them swimming side-by-side, which I believe would be a mother with its infant.  I managed to snap a few pictures before they swam away... without my zoom lens.  If you look closely, it really it there!

The large, white-capped waves roared onto the beach and sprayed against the rocks just down the coast as if they were being pushed by some unseen force.  It was cold and bubbly as it flattened out and covered the sand.  The girls jumped with excitement as they watched and waded.

Continuing our coastal drive, we came to Malibu.  We pulled off to absorb the scenery and take some pictures.

 On down the road, the beaches were well groomed and loaded with volleyball nets.  It looked just like the beaches in movies.  I didn’t snap a single photo in this area and I’m not sure we’ll get back there because traffic is so bad!

Our journey along the coast ended at Santa Monica Pier.

And this is the end of the trail (Route 66)

Wow!  The kids were so excited to see the ferris wheel and other rides on the pier.  

 Unfortunately, that section was closed off for a private party.  We still had fun though.  We got to see an embryo shark swimming around in its egg.  An employee from the aquarium beneath the pier was walking it around in a large test tube filled with water.

Katie, in Forrest Gump's shoes...

I would love to go back to Santa Monica when we could experience the fullness of all the activities.  But it was fun just walking around, looking through some small shops and taking in all the scenery.

It was a long drive back, mostly due to all the traffic.  Being a holiday weekend, it’s even heavier than usual.  It was worth it though.  And I would do it again.

We’ve done so many fun things, I can’t decide what is my favorite.  I guess that’s a good thing!

Day 6 - Angeles National Forest & Marie Callender's

What a beautiful day.  I think the kids are going to turn into little mermaids from all this swimming!

Jason got off work early today so we took a drive to the Angeles National Forest.

Of course, the dolls came with us!

The drive was the most beautiful drive through mountains I've ever seen!  Breathtaking views, windy roads, huge pines, campgrounds, ski slopes, a lake, and more.  Amazing!

Jackson Lake/Angeles National Forest:

 

Large Trees:

We even saw fresh paw prints from mountain lions!  They were almost as big as my fist and there were many of them.  This one has a baby frong nested in it on the left of the print...



Ski Slopes...

From this view, we were well over 6000 feet elevation.

Dinner at Marie Callender's was delicious.

The kids' meals came with an oreo sundae, so the girls planned well and saved room for their dessert.  I still got a few bites and it was yummy!

We even had a mountain-view table!

It was another enjoyable day in Southern California!

Day 5 - Orchard and Swimming

We dropped Jason off at work this morning so that we could have the car.  After a stop at the store for goggles, a raft, and pool rings, we headed back to the hotel for breakfast.  You thought I was going to say "swimming" right?  Well, that came later!

After breakfast, we drove through the California Citrus State Historic Park in Riverside, CA.  Turns out, this place isn't far from where Jason is working, so we could have planned it better to avoid extra driving.  And I'm going to put a plug in here for GPS - one of the greatest inventions!

There were tons of orange trees, and we saw some grapefruit trees, too.

This crate trailer was parked near the trees...

The girls thought that was pretty cool.

There was a fruit stand on the corner selling 25 pounds of oranges for only $6.00!  I wanted to buy some so badly!

When we returned from our short excursion, we went swimming.  We had the pool to ourselves for a while before a few others joined us.  It was a great afternoon for swimming!

The hotel served cheese enchiladas and rice for dinner, so we ate there after getting Jason from work.  It wouldn't be my first pick, or even my second or third.  But it was free and simple and filled our bellies.

In the evening, we went to the mall where there is a huge JC Penny Outlet store.  The kids and I will probably go back there this week while Jason is working.  I'm also seeing another trip to the American Girl store in our near future, since Emily still has money and both girls are dying to go back.  I'm trying to find fun things to do that are unique to this area, but all the kids are interested in is swimming!



Day 4 - Fun in the Sun...

Well, not really.  The kids had fun but the sun was behind the clouds most of the day.  It didn't stop us from swimming though, even though the temperature was only about 68 degrees.  The pool is heated and feels good, thank goodness!  I got in the hot tub a couple times, which is right next to the pool.

Katie's nose began to bleed while she was in the pool.  She immediately got out, holding her nose while finding her way to a chair.  The only thing I could think to do was to grab a towel, dunk it in the water and hand it to her.  She sat for about 10 minutes or so and when it stopped, I cleaned her up.  I let her get back in the pool but wouldn't let her jump around or go under for a while.

Since Jason drove the car to work, the girls and I ate our leftover pizza and fruit for lunch.  Having a full kitchen in our room is really nice.  Having a maid to clean up after us every day is even nicer!  Although, when she came today, I told her she could have the day off from cleaning our suite!

When Jason got off work, we hung out for a little while and then went for a drive and out for dinner.

That's it.  That was our somewhat boring day.  And the only pictures I have to show for it are on my phone and were taken at dinner.

Day 3 - Hiking

It was a bit chilly and overcast in the morning, so I wasn't sure how the day would pan out.  We ate breakfast, and then drove to the San Bernardino National Forest to see the mountains and hike a couple trails.

Once we got there, the fog started to lift, and the sun began to shine.  It turned out to be a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine and a nice breeze.

Katie found herself a "hiking stick," as she called it...

We hiked upon an interesting tree.  Its bark was really smooth...

and its limbs were windy... 

This was part of a huge bush at the foot of a mountain...

The kids had fun finding and throwing rocks in the creek...

We saw lots of lizards... 

Then we went to the Morman Rocks Station of the San Bernardino National Forest.

Scientists believe that these huge rocks were formed from seismic activity "millions" of years ago.  This provided an opportunity for us to talk to the kids about the Great Flood and and that the smooth surface on the rocks suggest that they had been submerged in water for a length of time.  It seems to me that if an earthquake caused these rocks to form and move into the position in which they sit today, then they would be jagged instead of smooth.

One of my favorite pictures... 

After hiking, we got some Krispy Kremes and drove back to the hotel, relaxed for a little bit and then went swimming.  We had the pool to ourselves today which was really nice.  Katie invented her own "sprinkler" system (again, self-named) by twirling her wet hair in circles, thus sprinkling everthing around her.  She's silly.  Emily kept jumping in the pool with her legs bent a spread out like a frog.  She's silly too!  After more a few hours, we cleaned up and went to Boston's for dinner.

It was another great day in California!