Mary in Malibu

Tuesday, June 7th - Angeles Mountains, Los Angeles to Santa Monica Mountains, Malibu, California - Day 117 

It is great to welcome Mary back on the trip. The kids gave her a huge hug as we picked her up at the airport. They are all really excited to talk to someone other than their parents. 

 We are all driving to our wedding on June 25th. Sixteen days until we need to be in Victoria, British Columbia. Our plan was to drive up the coast from Los Angeles, halfway to San Fran cut inland to Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park (which is close by) and then head north to Yosemite, before driving back down to Big Sur and then into San Francisco, potentially north east to Lake Tahoe and north to Redwoods National Park. It’s a busy schedule, we’ll see how it goes. 

On the way to pick up Mary we got a well-deserved oil change for the Santa Fe, courtesy of Valvoline. It was expensive but quick and easy. We were thinking of driving through Beverly Hills but had no time. 

After the airport we headed to the iconic Santa Monica pier. After a search for street parking, we had lunch on the bluffs overlooking the beach and pier. Some very aggressive squirrels were trying to take our food. The squirrels were odd, they occasionally dragged their stomachs along the ground when they ran. 

 We walked down the bluff to the beach and along the surf to the pier. There was some intense debate on whether everyone should go on the Ferris Wheel which ended with all of us eating a funnel cake. A short stroll along the pier later we were back at the car. 

We started our drive along Highway 1, the ocean adjacent highway, and quickly ran into the Jonathan Club. Mary arranged for the Granite Club to provide access to their reciprocal club. We had some slight technical issues with the details of the agreement, but we ended up getting a coffee and sitting by the play structure to admire the beach. 

After some long bathroom stops, we were in the car and cruising up highway 1. Our destination was as far up the coast as we could manage. We enjoyed some fantastic views before the wall of garages from ocean front properties took over. The drive through Malibu provided some great views of the mountains but not much of the ocean. 

We did stop at a state beach where we walked a path down the bluffs to a beautiful beach framed by rocks and the setting sun. Our last drive was into the Santa Monica Mountains in the Santa Monica National Recreation Area to a lovely trailhead where we set-up for the night.