We passed by some recognizable towns named Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Long Beach before we reached the metropolis called Los Angeles. Our route had us traveling through a tunnel under the main runways of LAX!
Once we got passed Los Angeles, the second most populated city in the U.S., the scenery changed for the better as we saw smaller coastal towns like Marina Del Ray, Santa Monica and Malibu, before reaching our final destination in Ventura.
We did manage to pull off the road so that we could use THE POD's bathroom, but other than that we found nowhere we could park while towing the trailer.
For once we arrived after the official check-in time, only to find there was no one here to check us in, that figures!
Half of the sites here at Faria Beach County Park have full hookups (water-electric-sewer) and most of them back right up to the Pacific Ocean.
TRAVEL DAY PHOTOS
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Not the prices you want to see when you have a 36-gallon tank and only getting 10MPG.
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The grey "LAX" sign is hiding behind the bushes on the left with the airplanes,but that's definitely a tunnel underneath the runways dead ahead.
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Once on the north side of LA the Pacific "Coast" Highway actually ran along the coast.
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Thankfully with mountains that steep it makes it impossible to build on it.
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Plenty of room to pull over here, but we had already used the bathroom by now.
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At the bottom on this hill is Faria Beach Park.
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Now that's a view! We even opened up our rear hatch for a better view.
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The previous photo made it look like we had the whole ocean to ourselves.As you can see we have a few close neighbors.
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Watch your step when leaving THE POD!
At 5:45AM we had the moon shining off the Pacific Ocean and it appeared to be coming directly into our rear window.
Shortly after 9:00AM we hopped into ROVER to take a ride down to the Channel Islands National Park Visitor Center.
We have reservations for a trip out to explore the Channel Islands for tomorrow, but with the high winds comes high surf and I don't do well in boats on rough water.
Fortunately the Island Packers Ferry Service is located right next door to the Visitor Center and we were able to go into the office and reschedule our trip.
Unfortunately the weather is not supposed to impove during our 4-night visit at Faria Park, but our next stop is only 40-miles further north so we will be able to schedule our trip for next Tuesday. That would still leave us Wednesday if Tuesday is also a poor weather day.
Now that our ferry reservations have been rescheduled, it's time to find a laundromat, a gas station and a grocery store with a water vending machine!
First thing to do was drop Tricia with all the dirty laundry at a laundromat while I went in search of the water and gas.
As usual, when searching with the Gas Buddy app, Costco came to the top of the list for the least expensive gas in town. That's if you can consider $4.25 inexpensive! Once again pulling up to the pump with 1/4-tank of gas I was able to still dispense $118.80 into the tank.
Next up was searching for the nearest Walmart to fill 3 of our 3-gallon water bottles and grab a few items to fill in the blanks of our pantry. For the first time I managed to find a Walmart Supercenter that doesn't have a water vending machine in it. Instead, I had to drive another 3-miles away to a smaller Neighborhood Walmart Store to purchase the water at a record 54¢ a gallon, usually it's between 35¢ and 49¢. Just another way of saying "Welcome to California"!
I got back to the laundromat just as Tricia finished up and we headed back to camp to relax to the sound of the crashing waves for the rest of the day.
We briefly discussed driving 65-miles back south to check out the Santa Monica Pier, but I started doing the math of gasoline costs ($30), beach parking ($15) and fighting the weekend freeway traffic for an hour and a half each way and we rather quickly ruled it out as a possible activity.
Just before lunch we hopped into ROVER and checked out the other two nearby county parks (Rincon Highway and Hobson Beach) for possible future visits. We confirmed we made the right decision to stay here at Faria Beach, given the other two options.
We had a little excitement here in the campground right at sunset.
The kids a few sites over from us were outside playing and all of a sudden started yelling "SHARK" and pointing out into the surf.
Fortunately there is one site available for those 3-days, unfortunately it is probably the worst site here in the park. The good news is, without the utility hookups it's $19 a night cheaper than the site we currently have.
The orcas were back today, a full hour earlier than yesterday, and that even takes into account for the daylight savings time change. This time they were a little bit too far away from our campsite and we didn't get any better video than yesterday's, so sorry nothing to share.
For us, it's moving day today, moving less than 100-yards north of where we are currently set up to a site in the middle of the entrance cul-de-sac.
I guess that's why Site #1 was the only site available for a last minute 3-day reservation!
Anyway, there's no limit to the number of hoops we'll jump through to make sure we don't miss the opportunity of visiting one of our National Parks.
NEW SITE - SAME CAMPGROUND
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Our view out the rear hatch from our new campsite.
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At least we don't have any "CLOSE" neighbors like our last site.
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We do have an outdoor dish washing station on our site, not that we need one.
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Look there is someone else using our dish washing sink right now.
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We even now have Airstream neighbors.
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We do have a long range view of the Rincon Beach Cove...
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...and if we get the desire for some sand in our toes we can walk down to the beach.
we had a couple of back to back wildlife sightings out in the surf.
Tomorrow is our last chance to visit the park, so as they say, "Come hell or high water" I'm just going to have to "put on my big boy pants" and get on that boat, all dosed up on Bonine and/or whatever else it takes to avoid becoming seasick.
It's basically the same boat ride as the one out to Dry Tortugas National Park and I've done that one 6-times without becoming seasick, so I hope there won't be any issues with this one.
Of course he was talking about never giving up when trying to find treasure under the sea and I'm just trying to get on a damn ferry boat.
The "silver lining" on postponing our visit until today? Tricia is now able to book a spot on the usually sold out 1-1/2 hour guided kayak tour around Santa Cruz Island.
CHANNEL ISLANDS NATIONAL PARK
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Today's adventure begins predawn at the Ventura Harbor.
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There are 12 of these "no longer used" oil derricks along the California coast.
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An hour and a half after boarding the ferry Tricia had transfered into a smaller craft.
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She's in her happy place now! Can't you tell?
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There are numerous sea caves and arches along the coastline here.
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There is also a lot of sea kelp here among the Channel Islands.
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I've heard this stuff is edible, but I'm not going to try it!
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Here the kayak guide is checking out one of the larger sea caves.
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This sea cave goes all the way through to the other side, creating an arch.
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Looking upwards from the entrance to another sea cave.
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There's no exiting the water from this point.
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There's another one of the sea arches up ahead.
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All too soon their 1-1/2 hours on the water was up and it was time to head back.
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This was the last private homestead on Santa Rosa Island that was privately owned.
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Today it's occupied by an "Island Fox", found nowhere else outside of the Channel Islands.
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Here we can see it's one of the dwarf "Santa Cruz Island" gopher snakes.
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These snakes have recently been found on nearby Santa Rosa Island too.
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Tricia decided to take a hike up the Cavern Point Trail at the Scorpion Anchorage.
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The colorful kayaks offer some relief from the drab green-brown backdrop of the island.
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She's getting near the top now!
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Here she zooms back in on where she left me sitting at a shaded table.
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What she didn't see was the fox was under the table next to me.
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Scorpion Anchorage as seen from the top of the trail.
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The sea kelp beds as seen from above.
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One of the afternoon guided kayak trips.
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Santa Cruz Island is the largest of the five islands in the National Park.
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The Island Fox is one-third smaller than its mainland ancestor, the gray fox.At 12-13 inches in height and 4-5 pounds, the island fox is about the size of a housecat.
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When laying down in the tall grass you'll only see him when he pops up his head.
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These birds have sure made a mess of this rock over the years.
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When getting back close to shore the sailboats were out and about.
OUR NATIONAL PARK CHALLENGE: |
| COMPLETED | PROGRESS BAR |
STILL TO GO |
| 41 | 10 |
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