California Vacation - Aug. 1

August 1, 2008 - Lee Ann's recollections:

Frank finally got tired of journaling, so I had to recreate the notes from our last full day in California.

As soon as we got up we headed down to the harbor in Moro Bay (a moro is an igneous dome that has been exposed by erosion, so Moro Bay is named for the large rock that sits at the entrance to its harbor) to do some kayaking. We'd really been hoping to see some sea otters up close, but, after a couple of hours of paddling past sea lions and pelicans, checking out all the sea grass beds, and hiking across the harbor peninsula to wade in the ocean breakers, we still hadn't spotted an otter. Finally, we thought we better head back to the concession and there, right by the dock, was an otter floating along on his back! He'd disappear occasionally to bring up some type of shellfish, and then paddle along on his back again. What a neat experience.

We opted for an inland route that would let us make faster time down the coast, but the scenery was still awesome, even with the burned areas. It was a bit like the Texas Hill Country, but more rugged.

We'd reserved a campsite at Malibu Creek State Park, simply because it was near Los Angeles (and wasn't closed due to fires), but we were excited to later learn that it the location where the TV series MASH was filmed. Our whole family loves MASH, and, sure enough, as we pulled in the gate, it really looked like we were at the 4077! We took a little side trip to the beach to play in the cold, rough breakers, rounded up all the quarters we could find to take showers, and spent our last night in California. It's been a great trip!