I slinked out of my tent with my computer and froze. Of course it was dark out but the sky had the city light glow that backlit a creature on our picnic table staring right back at me. It looked like a large yellow cat. I turned my headlamp on and aimed it toward the table and just as the beam reached the animal it swooped up a bit and flew off. I stood there watching as the owl silently flew within a few feet of me toward the grass and trees. I'm sure he was way less impressed at our encounter than me!
About 10 minutes into my picture editing in my camp chair I longed to be back in the warmth of the tent. It was 59 degrees and this Florida girl needed to add more layers! I slipped my still-warm sleeping bag out of the tent and climbed in. It didn't help my hands much but anyone who knows me knows they are always cold anyway!
And then there's the sunrise. Mountains or water always make it so much better!
Not too long after the sun was up over the mountain Laney got up saying she didn't feel well. She was up unusually early for her and looked pretty pale. I got her to drink some water but once she had a crumb from a cracker she got sick. I hoped she'd feel better so we could enjoy the day we had planned but only time and breakfast would tell.
Once Brayden got up he was looking pretty bored staring at the picnic table. He'd finished all the books he'd brought and I'd bought him so I grabbed another from the resupply box in the car. If he keeps going at this rate I'll need to buy some and Dave will need to pack some!
With those two awake I decided to start hash browns and eggs for breakfast. Ryan must also be growing because she ate two eggs, a big pile of hash browns, and an entire cantaloupe! They'd better go get jobs soon to buy groceries!
We cleaned up breakfast and got ready then we headed to our first stop near L.A. - the Santa Monica Pier. The drive was a quick 2 hours (blegh) but we listened to a couple podcast episodes of Smash Boom Best to pass the time. Brayden and Ryan are especially enjoying this podcast but it is teaching them debate tactics that I'm thinking I might regret! Today's episodes were pizza vs tacos, invisibility vs flying, and The Grand Canyon vs Mt Everest. I love they are learning a little history along the way.
We made it to Santa Monica and parked right near the pier - success! Our first priority was to head to the ferris wheel. We made mental note of all the ice cream options on the way though! When the kids saw the price for all of us to go on they said they would rather play the carnival games instead so that's what they did! Ryan wanted to try the game for the life-sized animals but I had to talk her out of it because there is barely room for us and all our stuff! They had a great time and ended up with a couple stuff animals.
We had a little ice cream, bought more post cards, and I made the kids visit Zoltar. They laughed at the it's puns and were confused by the wordy fortunes. Maybe they will make sense to them one day.
We took the steps down to the beach to visit the Pacific again. Brayden claimed he would go swimming here because it was way less windy and the sun was shining. That was until he put his foot in!
The kids chose next to go visit the Walk of Fame. I let them know it was an hour drive for just a few miles and they all said it was fine. One day they will appreciate this effort maybe! We found a close parking space and walked for blocks and blocks and blocks enjoying reading all the names. There were lots I know and lots I didn't but we did see The Beatles, Queen, Andy Griffith, Johnny Carson, Daniel Radcliffe, Robin Williams, John Belushi, Billy Joel, and Henry Winkler to name a few.
Our next stop was the Chinese Theater to try and find the Harry Potter cast. We found the Hunger Games cast first and many more! Brayden as excited as he seems about Hugh Jackman - he said the cement was burning hot!
Brayden spotted Randy's Donuts on the way back to the car so we stopped in to grab a couple for our walk back. This wasn't the actual location for Iron Man he says but the donuts were still delicious!
In the car I began navigation back to our campsite to find out it would now be a 3 hour drive back (sigh). Brayden laughed as the GPS kept informing us of delay after delay just when we would start moving at a good speed. It was very accurate though as we pulled in at the very minute it predicted! The mostly empty campground was completely full since it was Friday and the party had started for sure for many of them.
We grabbed our camp chairs and got BACK in the car to go to the drive-in movie. On these trips we try to always do things we can't do at home and this is definitely one of them. There were about a million more people at this movie but we enjoyed it for the most part.
We made it home past our bedtimes and were surprised to hear a mostly quiet campground. There was still a little music and a lot of campfire chatter and scream-laughing but we all fell asleep within a few minutes. I was just glad not to be driving anymore!
