The time had come to finally depart San Diego and make our way north to Los Angeles. Outside of the zoo, this may have been the portion that I was most looking forward to for a few reason — we stopped at La Jolla to explore the tide pools and see the sea lions, finally being rid of the pull-out couch that I had been calling my bed the past few nights, and getting together with the family up in Thousand Oaks. A girl in my Lyft the night before had gotten upset with me for referring to Thousand Oaks as Los Angeles. We expected the drive to only take about three hours with some time to stop at Venice Beach, but forgetting that this was California and there is traffic all day every day, that clearly that didn’t happen.
La Jolla proved to be worth its reputation, as we spent an hour and a half exploring the tide pools and watching the sea lions bask in the sun. Somehow, we managed to find a parking spot fairly easily on Coast Blvd S in between La Jolla Beach and Seal Rock. La Jolla was a playground for exploring rocks that are too slippery to feel safe on and watching waves crash along the beach. After heading to the tide pools, we meandered up to Children’s Pool to see the sea lions. There they were, lounging on the rocks and on the beach, coming in and out of their feeding frenzy.
The remainder of the day proved to be a frustrating road trip with two bickering parents who forgot their GPS and me trying to backseat navigate. Originally, the plan had been to stop at Venice Beach — we were going to meet up with one of my best friends from high school who relocated to Los Angeles with his girlfriend —- but traffic caused that plan to quickly derail. Thanks to several hours of stop-and-go, we made it to Thousands Oaks with about an hour to spare. Just enough time to take a quick dip in the hot tub after an almost six-hour drive, since there was dinner and a service for out of town folks the night before the actual Bat Mitzvah. The night concluded at the hotel with all the family gathered in the lobby to break open the Modern Times beer that my dad and I had shipped up the coast. I had a bomber of Geodesic and my dad had four pack of Black House.
Saturday was finally the big day: the purpose of the entire trip out to California. In a new change of pace, the service was Saturday afternoon immediately followed by the party as opposed to a Saturday morning service. This allowed time for a quality family breakfast at the hotel, my uncle’s strange musings and antics entertaining the couple at the other end of the table; he never took the childhood less of “don’t play with your food” to heart.
Our stop for the day was Point Mugu State Park, on the south side of the Santa Monica Mountains. This was my opportunity to meet up with my friend Mark, our first time seeing each other since July 2017. Cell service at the park was minimal at best so we had a minor miscommunication meeting up. It was my belief (and telling Mark) that we were going to Sycamore Canyon, but we instead stopped at Mugu Beach on the opposite end of the park. After twenty minutes of sandy walking and picture taking, I managed to pester the family to depart to Sycamore Beach where Mark was waiting. After a brief scare that my family was going to turn around because no one wanted to pay a full days parking for an hour, my mom read the sign and saw that we could pay by the hour. Along the way, there was a massive sandhill down the side of one of the mountains where families were sledding and playing around much the same as one would do during snow storms.
The temperature difference from in the mountains where Thousand Oaks is located and on the beach was fairly significant, especially as the fog was rolling in off of the water. Too cold to dip your toes in the water — I think the water was a balmy 60º — we walked along the beach admiring the massive rock formations and the waves as they created white water crashing onto the boulders.
When the time came for my parents and the rest of my family to return to the hotel, I was able to stay behind and have more time with Mark to catch up. We decided to go towards Sycamore Canyon and follow a short hiking trail since we had another hour and a half before he had to chaperone me back to the hotel. At this point, the fog had completely taken over and visibility was pretty minimal. Thankfully, there was a trail that was less than a mile each way, allowing us to hike there-and-back in time to get going. At the top of the mountain we hiked to, we could hear the water crashing and children playing, but visibility couldn’t have been further than ten feet. We were standing in a cloud but down below we could hear the kids sledding down the sandhill.
Finally, I had to get back on the road so it was time to descend the mountain and get me back to the hotel. Thankfully only a half hour drive, I made it back to the hotel just in time to shower and get dressed for the Bat Mitzvah. It was time for the nightlife to begin, as the service was immediately followed by the party at a local country club. The final event of the trip had officially begun, only to be followed by a 4:00 a.m wake up call next day to make it LAX and return to Boston in time for New Year’s Eve. Now, the countdown officially began until mid-February for the trip to Australia!
Where Do We Go From Here 