Travels of Bob & Sharon: Malibu to San Diego to Yuma

On our way down the coast, we stopped at Ventura Beach. Nancy
and Phil had loved it there and recommended it to us. It was truly
beautiful, however the winds were so high that sand was blowing everywhere.
Keep in mind that they visited in late summer and we are still
in winter.

We had fun wandering around in the protected plaza, away
from the beach and blowing sand,
ate ice cream, gazed at some boats, and took some
silly photo's

I put on my little girl suit and rode my pet dolphin

Then we put on our big people bathing suits
and showed some muscle

Bob's first attempt at a serious pic. The young woman
who took this photo collapsed with laughter....typical Bob stuff.

Gorgeous mosaics on the plaza walls

Hundreds of boats in the marina

The canyons heading for Malibu were beautiful in the
late afternoon sun

The campground managers gave us this fabulous site
overlooking the Pacific and Malibu Beach. The couple looked as if they'd stepped
off of a Hollywood set, all sun-kissed and blonde, although they come from Texas and
Cincinnati....really sweet and helpful people

The Pacific Coast Highway and Malibu Beach in front of us

Coral Canyon behind us

Surrounded by hundreds of hummingbirds and the
occasional fly-by of bright green screeching parrots

One of my hummingbird buddies in action

Flowers and cacti on all the hills around us

Our first Malibu sunset

We saw dolphins in the bay and watched for the
Grey Whale migration south, but didn't see the big guys.

Gorgeous and very expensive homes along Malibu Beach

A rabbi and his family in prayer at sunset, and a photographer
capturing the moment....well, two intrusive photographers
if you count me

A magnificent moon

We felt that we'd be hard pressed to find a more beautiful place than Malibu and we were thrilled to find it so quiet, peaceful and friendly. Imagine our surprise then, when we were awakened around 2 a.m. by the thwack, thwack, thwack of helicopters, flying very close to our hilltop camp site. I commented to Bob that if these are security helicopters, and if this is the price someone living here has to pay for peace of mind, then they can have it. The noise went on all night and was still going on when we got up at 7 a.m. We saw a police cruiser drive up the levels of the campground, right to the top and figured it was another security check. Still the helicopters flew around us, into the canyon and out again, passing right past our site. A bit later, we walked down the hill to the laundry room and began chatting with a couple from Kentucky. They told us that police had run a plate check on a car during the night, that was sitting on the side of the highway below us, because the windows were steamed up. The owner of the vehicle was a wanted felon, the police forced the driver out of the car and learned that the felon had kidnapped his ex girlfriend and she was in the car in very bad shape. When the officer handcuffed the dude, he managed to break away, seriously hurt the officer, then ran barefoot into the hills AROUND US!!! He was still "at large" for 2 days before they caught him in L.A. The lead detective on the case, described him as "a young, dark-haired 35 year old, in bare feet, singlet shirt, dark blue pants and an interesting piece of jewellry on his wrist". It never ends does it? Excitement wherever we go!!! Actually, we had to laugh about it...no point in worrying is there? Bob wouldn't have answered the middle of the night knock anyway....no matter who was outside.

A famous and great place to have lunch, just up the beach from
our camp.

Zuma Beach

Where Bay Watch was filmed

Oh look! Here comes David Hasselhoff!!

We had a terrific tour with LA Adventures with Joe, a young actor from Columbus, Ohio who supplements his actor's income giving tours. He was fun, knowledgeable and taught us much about the city.

Santa Monica Pier and the only solar powered ferris wheel
in North America

Venice Beach. If you get here early enough in the
morning, you can actually avoid, not only crowds...
people in general. Very interesting place when the
eccentrics awaken however!

Aha....first one's up!

We watched this fellow punch the bag, do push-ups forever,
and he kept his identity hidden with this disguise. We figure that
he, and several other somewhat familiar looking muscle beach regulars, would be
outed if they took off the gear.

Filming on the beach

Cast and crew trying to keep warm in the cool breeze

Funny thing...

Probably the only canal left from original Venice Beach,
which was all canals

Marina del Ray

With over 5000 boats in residence. "Dexter" is shot here,
standing in for Miami. Dexter has never set foot
in the building in Miami that houses his office.....ahhhh,
the magic of TV and film

A Latino music video is being shot here

Boats have real trees onboard

Downtown Los Angeles

See the black line on the sidewalk? The sidewalk doesn't touch
the pavement, and the bridge doesn't touch the street. Buildings
are on rollers or rockers that sway, all to reduce the impact of
earthquakes, which happen about once a year. Joe told us that
because he isn't from California, the only way he knows there is
an earthquake happening, is when he feels nauseous .

Glistening towers downtown. In actual fact, there are
several "downtowns", built miles apart, in case of disaster, so that
no business would suffer a total loss and so that the city would
still have a centre.

Some interesting things we learned about L.A.

- The top 5 industries in the city are:

1. Oil - we could see the lineup of platforms out in the Pacific

2. Aero manufacturing

3. Ports

4. Tourism

5. Entertainment (film and tv)

Many years ago, L.A. had a fantastic transit system and varied options for travelling about the city.

One by one, the car manufacturers bought them and closed them down. Now L.A. is considered the worst city for gridlock in North America.

On the positive side, city hall has a "green" roof and is surrounded by pools of water that are not only pretty but provide cooling and heating to the building.

Chinatown. Once tiny, it now has taken over the area that was
once Little Italy and is now the largest distinct neighbourhood in Los Angeles

Once this was one of the tallest buildings in L.A. It is now
used for sets in the film/tv industry, and is believed to be seen
on screen somewhere in the world, every day of the year.

Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall. Only symphonies, orchestra's, choirs
and opera's are allowed to be performed here. When originally
built, the surfaces were highly polished and so shiny that reflections
caused buildings facing the hall to experience heat so intense
it was feared that the apartments and offices in those buildings
would combust and burst into flames. All surfaces had to be
sandblasted to eliminate the glare.

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion where the Oscars used to be held.

This organization serves to shift gang members off the street, teaching
them a trade or profession. Our guide Joe, is writing a
TV series about the successes, and will be presenting
it to producers real soon. Stay tuned.

The first Spanish church in L.A.

Nokia building, built to look like a cell phone...
in the day.

Our guide...actor Joe. He has appeared in many shows, music videos and
commercials. He said "nothing big yet, but my dream is to star in a feature with
Rachel McAdams". A terrific guide and we were very fortunate to have him
all to ourselves..... a VIP tour in a Benz van. Great fun!

After the tour, walking the pedestrian mall in Santa Monica

Street musicians have to audition to be able to play here, so they are not
your average busker. We bought 2 cd's from this group.

Street art

Unique display of running shoes

Back at the camp...

..we enjoy our last Malibu sunset

We drive into the Coral and Mulholland canyons behind
our campground, discovering that wherever there is a
peak, there is a house built on top of it.

Seen from L.A. and heading to La Jolla, we catch a glimpse of snow on top of
Mount Baldy, where Joe told us, locals like to say they ski in the
morning and surf in the afternoon

Neighbours at our campground in La Jolla

This sweet little couple stayed at our site

Under the La Jolla pier

Don't even ask what these houses on the beach would cost

Very unusual looking seagulls

Yup...that is one house!

A very beautiful and peaceful place....we think....

Our tour of San Diego included this old church in, funny
enough, "Old Town"

That's a huge aircraft carrier in the distance

Enormous cruise ships in the harbour

Gorgeous sculpture along the waterfront

Gaslamp district

Convention Centre

Latino neighbourhood murals on the way to the bridge to
Coronado

Up and over the bridge

View of downtown San Diego from Coronado

This old house was ferried from the mainland to the island.
It is privately owned. Coronado has the highest real
estate values of anywhere in America and probably
the largest concentration of retirement communities
we have ever seen.

A creative beach groomer, raked the kelp from the waters
edge and spelled "Coronado" so that it can be seen from the air.
The air force appreciates the landmark....they often
get lost.

Where we had lunch

We doubt that Coronado has ever seen a live one but there you go....
constant reminders of our favourite travel phrase: "When
you travel, never forget the meaning of the word "irony"."

Beautiful old architecture, well maintained

Great buildings in Balboa Park

Back on the mainland, we see the vibrant colours of
the Italian district

The trolley we rode around town in

Another beautiful old building in "Old Town" San Diego

On the highway to Yuma, Arizona, many wind turbines

Not certain what these barriers are meant to do, however we
did see "the fence" that is intended to keep illegals from
crossing from Mexico into the U.S. Nasty!