Sunny California

For my first real entry I will review my recent trip to SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

My brother BEN earned a free airline ticket to any of 30+ U.S. destinations that he had to use before March or so. He convinced me to join him for a three-night vacation since I cannot see him very often now and we both really like to travel. Oh, where to fly in January? Since I live in MINNESOTA, I wanted to visit and photograph those foreign things called oceans or mountains, as well as those foreign winter things called warmth and greenery. Neither of us skis, so Colorado was out. Ben lives in Florida, so all of the warm beaches there were out too. California seemed like the next best option. We had both been to NORTHERN CALIFORNIA before on a family road trip (highly recommended by the way), plus it is cool there in the winter, so southern California won. The only California airport the free ticket would allow was LAX. We decided to get a rental car, drive down the coast, and stay in the little beach town of SAN CLEMENTE.

Once we both arrived at the airport in the morning of Saturday, January 14, we decided against taking the quick interstate route to San Clemente. Instead we took the scenic Pacific Coast Highway the entire way. The road was an adventure throughout the 60-mile stretch, from the infamous LOS ANGELES GHETTOS to sooty INDUSTRIAL WASTELANDS to storied ORANGE COUNTY BEACH COMMUNITIES, while closely following the ocean for most of the journey. The couple of beaches we stopped at along the way could not remind me any more of THE BEACH BOYS. And thanks to the magic of iPOD, I could hear them too.

We stayed at the COMFORT SUITES in San Clemente. I thought it was a good place to stay, but then again hotels easily satisfy me. It was right next to the Interstate, but on the other hand only about a mile from the beach. My brother and I are both hotel pool junkies, and this place had a nice little outdoor pool and hot tub. My only real complaint was the nighttime temperatures made it too cool to use the pool alone and they could not get the heat in the hot tub to work until the last night we were there.

On Sunday morning we explored the beach in San Clemente. For lunch we ate fresh fish outside at a restaurant on the pier as the waves crashed under our feet.

In the afternoon we drove up into the mountains to PALOMAR MOUNTAIN STATE PARK. I wanted to take pictures from a great observation point in the park, but when got up that high (over 5000 feet) I was disappointed that we were standing in creepy dark cold foggy clouds from the end of a storm. We could not see more than a couple hundred feet when we got to the point, and in a couple spots could not see more than about ten feet. I was surprised to see my breath in southern California, and we even saw remnants of snow on the ground. However, we also saw giant pines and cedars and two mule deer on the ridge, so it was still great to have gone up there.


We were heading down the mountain around sunset when we found a turnoff and clearing for me to take pictures. I got some good shots of the sun setting on the ocean past the hills and the mountains, but the photos do the breathtakingly majestic experience no justice. We warmed up and unwound on the way back by taking in a steak and shrimp buffet at an INDIAN CASINO.

On Monday we spent most of the day at SAN CLEMENTE STATE BEACH. It was a perfect sunny day in the 60s. The picturesque beach has a commuter rail line between the contrasting glistening ocean and desert bluffs. We found a nice overlook on the bluffs to watch the sunset and of course take photos.

When it was all over, we put 400 miles on the rental car and I got the relaxation and scenic photo ops that I desired. I was very pleased with the trip and I now definitely understand the drawing power of Southern California.