Look at Jalama Beach on a map — it doesn’t look like much, does it? It’s just a tiny red dot, close to evil-sounding towns like Solvang and Lompoc. It’s on a sharp bend in the Californian coast, where the land had been moving west but suddenly decided to correct itself and proceed again to the north. To the north, Jalama Beach is bounded by a large air force base. To [...]
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Malibu is incredible. I’m not talking about the movie star homes of Malibu. I’m talking about the wild Malibu, the areas you’ll find just a few miles from the beach, nestled back in the hills, far from the petty concerns of beach condo-mansion living. Most of this land was preserved in its mostly natural state because it was purchased and used as ranches by movie business people. Malibu Creek State Park [...]
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Today was a tough day for Rocky. We’ve pushed him almost 12,000 miles since September, and today we gave him nothing but a bruised bumper and a bruised ego for Valentine’s Day. I was cruising down the highway in Santa Barbara, coming around a sharp curve, when a car merged close in front of me, then kept going over onto the shoulder. I was preparing for some evasive maneuver, in case the guy were [...]
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Thanks to some great tips and accidental finds, we managed to feel like we got a self-guided insider’s tour of San Diego. Other than Cabrillo National Monument, which I consider the number one thing to do in San Diego, we also greatly enjoyed a few other area spots: Old Town San Diego, The Botanical Building at Balboa Park, Coronado Island, and Torrey Pines State Park (not to mention lots of delicious, authentic [...]
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When you have an out-of-town visitor, what’s the number one thing you want to show them in your city/town? When I can manage to remember, I’m planning to ask random people this question and hopefully discover the people’s guide to the best things to do in a city. I’m brushing my hair in the bathroom at Dos Picos County Park, chatting with a woman, Patricia, who is on her annual [...]
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I’m standing on the beach north of San Diego, and I’m feeling a sense of completion, of contentment. I’m about as far west (and south) as I can physically get in this great country. And I’m toasty warm. But Paul wants more — he looks out at the ocean and wants to keep going, until he can’t see land on any side. I don’t get that. All I want to [...]
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San Diego county seems to have gotten something right when it comes to its public services. Every library is nice, new-ish, well-designed, and provides free, unrestricted wifi and power. But the county park campgrounds are what we’re really appreciating right now — they’ve provided us with a comfy place to call home for a few weeks. Public camping in California is expensive — state parks charge $35-$50 for the privilege of occupying a [...]
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In case you can’t tell from our last few posts, we had been hitting a bit of a rough patch. “Confined” to the warm climate of southern California in January, we were kind of striking out at Joshua Tree National Park, Salton Sea, Yuma, AZ…we were not finding places that we liked, and we were craving a place where we could spend a few days relaxing. After a noisy night [...]
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It’s always a little awe-inspiring to come across a place where the conditions align perfectly to support a specific kind of plant. It’s a great example of the sensitivity and specificity of life on earth. One of these places is the Cholla Cactus Garden in JTNP (that’s Joshua Tree National Park). The soil is perfect, the slope is perfect, the amount of water is perfect. Perfect for a grove of [...]
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I love ruins. I like to imagine how people lived, once upon a time. So I was really excited to go to the Salton Sea after reading an intriguing National Geographic article a few years ago. But I found the Salton Sea utterly depressing…the ruin all feels too recent. It’s been decades since the resort-town fortunes of Salton Sea have risen and fallen, but there are still people there, trying to [...]
Read moreWe sold, donated, and stored our possessions; quit our jobs; bought a van; and are driving around North America. We'll wander around, see what's happening, and write about it here.
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