California – Beaches and Desert

Two extremes close to each other

Since we were not able to take our family trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands to celebrate my birthday, my daughters, Caty and Becca, and I decided to take a short trip to California. We wanted to mix a little nature with showbiz. And, we wanted some warmth and ocean breezes.

Corona del Mar

It was a nice trip, but there were a number of disappointments. First, getting tickets to shows is so difficult.

Caty tried for The Ellen Show, but, apparently that is just plain impossible, and a lot of the impossibility seems to be the process (or lack of process) being used. You can apply for ONLY one show at a time (other shows let you put in for multiple days to better cover your bases). Then, you are never rejected – you just don’t hear back. So, there is no way to plan a visit to The Ellen Show when you are going to be in town. On my way home from the trip, I overheard a woman who had flown to LA specifically to see Ellen AFTER she found out she had tickets. I didn’t get a chance to ask her how many years she had been trying.

Similarly, the night-time talk shows are tricky. You can apply for multiple days for The Late Late Show with James Cordon, but you don’t get your rejection notification until the day before the show. For Jimmy Kimmel Live!, you have to go stand in line on the day of the show.

I guess you just have to be in stand-by at all times.

Sitcoms are a bit easier, but there really aren’t too many choices because there aren’t many shoots in front of live audiences anymore. We failed to get tickets to The Big Bang Theory, but did get some for The Price is Right,  Mom and Superior Donuts. We ended up not going to Mom because Caty wouldn’t be in town yet and it was a long drive from where we were staying. And, we just couldn't stomach five hours of The Price is Right, especially since none of us know prices!. We did go to Superior Donuts, which I will talk about later.

For accommodations, we decided to spend part of the time south and part north. So, for the first two-thirds of the trip, we rented a two-bedroom, two-bath “beach” house in Seal Beach. For the last third, we stayed a motel in Burbank.

We choose Seal Beach because we wanted to go whale watching and we had contemplated going to Catalina Island, both of which are out of nearby Long Beach. 

Catalina Island from Crystal Cove State Beach

The most affordable house we could find was in Seal Beach.

The whole idea of a house was easy beach access and a place to hang out (plus having two bathrooms is good for three women traveling together). We got the house, which had many positive reviews, through Homeaway. 

Yuck

The location was OK. It was close to the beach, but the beach it was close to was not impressive, unless you like looking at an offshore oil rig and big tankers. 

The house itself (actually an apartment) was upstairs from the owners. It did have parking, which is nice. 

But, it was not very clean and it was very dark. It was sandwiched between very closely packed buildings, it didn’t have enough lamps and some of the bulbs were burned out.  

The outdoor open staircase to the unit was so dark (the light was burned out) that I had to use my cell phone flashlight to go up and down.

The ads said the house sleeps 11. One bedroom had a queen-sized bed and the other had TWO queen-sized beds and a single bed (it was a maze crawling between the beds). We figure the beds would sleep seven -- I guess the rest would have to sleep on couches! 

A bird!

It had a kitchen and a fridge, so we were able to cook our own breakfast, but the dingy not-so-clean interior (especially the gross carpet and leaky faucets) didn’t make us want to hang out too much. 

On a positive note, we could walk to dinner and we saw a beautiful Cooper's Hawk near the house.

I have not been overly impressed with a lot of the private houses I have stayed in (there have been a few nice ones). I think I’d rather stay at accommodations run by real hoteliers than by private citizens.

All three of us flew into LAX – at different times – so I made multiple trips through LA. The traffic is as bad as you’ve been told. A little better late at night, but bad at all times. And, it took me forever to get out of the airport the day I arrived because Thrifty Rental Car seems to have less shuttle buses than all other rental car providers. I don’t care if I never have to fly in or out of LAX or drive on those highways again.

Double yuck!

And, has been my issue all this year, the weather was not what one expects in LA. It was gray, foggy and rainy most – but, fortunately, not all – of the time.

So those were the issues we were dealing with. We still managed to have a good time.

While Seal Beach isn’t that impressive, there are some gorgeous beaches south of there. Our favorites were Corona del Mar and Crystal Cove State Park.

Corona del Mar is in the town of Newport Beach. It is crescent-shaped with both sand ...

Sand

... and rock formations ...

Becca

Although it was somewhat cool when we went there, there were a few surfers (in this case, a sort of hybrid paddle board surfer) ...

Surfer

... and children playing on the beach. It's amazing how kids just don't feel the cold. Becca did stick her feet in the water ...

Becca

She said it was cold, but not too bad. We never did go swimming, however. To me, the Pacific is just too chilly.

Corona del Mar is ringed by multi-million-dollar houses on the cliffs above ...

Nice digs

So, it is definitely a developed beach. The cost to visit is just for parking. So, if you walked in, it would be free. 

Corona del Mar is the setting for the TV show Arrested Development

Crystal Cove State Park, located on the Pacific Coast Highway between Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach, is rustic, with lots of sea grass and a steep descent down to the beach, which was partially sand and partially rock. Crystal Cove has 3.2 miles of beach, 2,400 acres of backcountry wilderness, an offshore underwater area and a federally listed Historic District with 46 vintage rustic coastal cottages originally built as a seaside colony in the 1930s and 40s. Of course, we just visited the beach.

Overlook

You pay a $15 fee that will get you into any State Beach or State Park for the day. There are a number of State Parks/Beaches along the coast.

We managed to hit both beaches during two sunny periods, including a nice sunset at Crystal Cove ...

Sunset

Although I promised that this was not a birding weekend, I did manage to get a few pictures of birds at the beaches, including a Cassin’s Kingbird, a new bird for me, and, some White-Crowned Sparrows (this one is a juvenile) at Crystal Cove ...

Janet, Cassin's Kingbird, White-Crowned Sparrow

At Corona del Mar, we saw a Black Phoebe …

A Black Phoebe sitting on the beach

Willets …

Scavaging

and California and Western Gulls …

Juvenile and adult

We also made a quick stop at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. 

When we were first looking for a house, I was excited that the huge Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge was right next door. It turns out that it is situated on the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station (!) and is open only one day per month (of course not a day we were there). But, then I discovered that Bolsa Chica State Beach and the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve were just a bit further down the Pacific Coast Highway.

There were a fair number of birds, but I think it was too early in the season for great variety. 

Willets, Dowitchers, Godwits, Greater Yellowlegs, Plovers and who knows what else

Plus, the surrounding area was fenced with ugly chain link -- oh, and it was foggy -- so I didn't spend much time there. 

Clockwise: Ridgeway's Rail (new), American Avocet, female Bufflehead, Marbled Godwit

We also saw a California/Western Brush rabbit ... I didn't even know there was such thing as a Brush rabbit.

Western Brush Rabbit

Our original plan had been to whale watch on Saturday and drive to Joshua Tree National Park (just a little over two hours away) on Sunday. But, the weather forecast for Long Beach for Saturday was dismal. The whale-watch provider was very accommodating. They let us switch to Sunday. In the summertime, this might not have been as easy. But, I do appreciate their flexibility.

It was rainy as we drove to Joshua Tree, but it had let up by the time we got there. And, while we didn’t get the bright blue skies and puffy clouds we would have liked, we also managed to stay dry and take some pictures. 

Joshua Tree

There wasn’t much in the way of wildlife. We saw a few Red-Tailed Hawks and a fairly large number of Phainopepla. These birds are shaped like Cardinals, but have their own coloration. The females are a dark slate gray. The males are black (with the back being slightly grayer than the head and breast). Both have red eyes and very cool crests.

Female and male

I also saw some Vultures, plus a Cactus Wren in, of all places, the Visitor Center parking lot …

Cactus Wren

Plus, we saw a Western Side-Blotched Lizard …

Sunning

But, overall, not much.

The Oasis Visitor Center is in the town of Twentynine Palms (I counted, there are more than 29 in town), outside the northwestern park boundaries. There is also the Cottonwood Visitor Center on the southeastern side of the park. It is inside the boundary.

The 790,636-acre park comprises parts of two different types of desert: the higher-elevation Mojave Desert in the northern part of the park and lower-elevation Colorado Desert in the south. The Little San Bernardino Mountains run through the southwest edge of the park.

Joshua Tree National Park started out as a National Monument in 1936 and became a National Park in 1994. 

The Park's namesake

The trees it is named for are native to the Park. A member of the yucca family, these odd plants look like a cross between a tree, a palm and a cactus. They are found in the arid southwestern U.S., specifically California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada. Joshua trees live in the Mojave Desert part of the park, some densely packed and some scattered about open areas.

The name, Joshua tree, was given by a group of Mormon settlers crossing the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century. The tree's shape reminded them of a Biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer.

Joshua trees grow quickly for a desert plant; new seedlings may grow at an average rate of three inches a year for the first ten years, then only about one and a half inches per year afterwards. Because the trunk is made of tightly packed fibers, it has no annual growth rings, making it difficult to determine the tree's age. They can live for hundreds to a thousand years and reach 50 ft. tall. 

Becca, Caty ... and me

Although we were at the park during the season that Joshua trees bloom, we didn’t see many flowers. Joshua trees are one of the species predicted to have their range reduced and shifted by climate change, leading to concern that they will die out in Joshua Tree National Park. And, that would be a shame.

Lots of trees

In addition to Joshua tree forests, the western part of the park features hills of bare rock, usually broken up into loose boulders. The park's oldest rocks are 1.7 billion years old up in the mountains. Other rocks are 75 to 250 million years old. The rock formations owe their shape to groundwater erosion and flash flooding.

Lots of rocks

The park also features a wide array of cacti, most in the lower Colorado Desert. I love the “Cholla Forest,” a broad swath of “jumping” cholla cacti (also called “Teddy Bear Cactus” for its shape, not its softness) mixed with ocotillo, creosote, sage, prickly pear and beavertail cacti.

Lots of cactus

Those babies really jump, too. I spent a lot of time prying them off my pants legs.

Jumped right on me!

OK, so they don't actually jump. It's just that the individual stem segments of the plant are only weakly attached. The slightest touch will detach them. They easily fall off and attach themselves to passing animals (or people) and that's how they propagate. Around every cholla plant is a ring of cute little baby cacti just waiting to be picked up for a ride.

Taking a photo

Joshua Tree National park was fairly crowded on the day we were there. But, it was a weekend. We saw lots of tourists plus some rock climbers and hikers. Late winter and early spring are nice times to visit because it can get very, very hot in the summer.

Joshua Tree is a “dark sky” area, but with the overcast and rain, I don’t think we would have been able to see anything had we stayed close by for the night.  

When I was in Joshua Tree National Park in March 2015 (incidentally on the exact same date as this trip), the Milky Way was spectacular. 

So much fun with my girls

I think that staying nearby might have given us a better opportunity to see animals -- maybe Javelinas, Kit Foxes or Coyotes (or even a Bobcat). But driving back and forth wasn't too bad and we didn't have to schlepp luggage up and down stairs.

It was a fun day with some fairly good (and authentic) Mexican food for lunch.

The drive back to Seal Beach in the rain wasn't a lot of fun because the roads were winding, steep and dark. But, we did need to get back for a whale watch the next day. 

Since it was still gloomy, we were crossing our fingers that we wouldn't get drenched on the whale watch.

On my next posts, I will talk about whales and showbiz (you don’t hear that combination very often).

Trip date: March 8-14, 2018

South Texas – Padre Island

Royal Terns

I had enough time on my final day in Texas to go check out Padre Island, another beach that I had scoffed at, but never really visited. 

Unexpected beauty

Boy, was I in for a surprise! The beach was gorgeous! 

Of course, the fact that the sun gloriously appeared (for the first time since I arrived in Texas) and the temperature climbed from the 50s to the 70s also helped a lot. This was the weather I had hoped for.

Oh, I said it was gorgeous, but I still think a beach needs to have white sand to be on the top of the list. Padre Island's is emphatically brown.

Tracks

Padre Island is the longest undeveloped barrier island in the world, providing a break between Corpus Christi and the Gulf of Mexico (incidentally, the largest gulf in the world). The majority of Padre Island comprises Padre Island National Seashore, which protects beaches, tidal flats, dunes, coastal grasslands and some wetlands. Unfortunately, it also seems to protect mosquitoes – be advised if you go. I had to return to the car for more insect repellent when I tried to hike.

Dunes

The National Seashore is 70 miles long with 65.5 miles of Gulf beach. Most of the park is primitive and most of the beach is accessible exclusively to four-wheel-drive vehicles. The paved park road is only about five miles long, after which you must drive on the beach.  All but four miles of the island is open to vehicle traffic. I had a rental car, so I didn't drive very far out to the beach.

A wide expanse

A program to re-establish a nesting beach for Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtles on Padre Island was begun in 1978. These turtles had been decimated by shrimpers’ nets and their popularity in Mexico for leather and as food. In 1992, the first two turtles from the program returned to Padre Island beach to lay their eggs. Wildlife officials released 10,594 hatchlings along the Texas coast this year.

Breaking waves

Due to the location of Padre Island National Seashore on the Central Flyway, a major migratory route for birds, about 380 species of birds have been documented within the park, which represents approximately 45 percent of all bird species documented in North America. It would be fun to come back during migration.

I did see lots of Brown Pelicans (lots of them) ...

I tried counting, but gave up

Laughing Gulls ...

A juvenile

Sanderlings ....

Looking for food

Forster's Terns (we saw them at Laguna Atascosa, but they were too far away for pictures); here they posed nicely ...

First photos

Royal Terns, waiting to fly ...

In formation

... and flying ...

Beautiful

Alone and in groups ...

A bit clumsy, though

Because of proximity to refineries offshore oil wells, I expected the beach to be filthy. But, it looked pristine the day I visited.

Padre Island is a very young geological feature that developed 4,500 to 5,000 years ago, according to radio carbon dating of shells. As a result, its landscape changes constantly, especially when battered by hurricanes. 

South Padre Island, where I began my trip, used to connect to Padre Island, but now there is a channel. Although the tips can be less than 500 ft. apart, it takes three and a half hours to drive from one to the other.

Most of the island is less than 20 feet above mean sea level. 

Southeasterly winds from the Gulf of Mexico drift sand into high foredunes, which often smother the plants that try so hard to hold the landscape together. The beach is protected by the high foredunes. Still, storms erode beaches, rip up vegetation, flatten dunes and scour out channels. I didn't, however, see much evidence of Hurricane Harvey here.

The peaceful Laguna Madre separates Padre Island from the Texas mainland and is locked in by the barrier island. Consequently, the water doesn’t easily circulate in and out, making the lagoon exceptionally salty. The lagoon -- 10 miles wide at its widest point -- fluctuates considerably. It is widest during highest wind tides, which cause the tidal flats to flood. The northern part of the lagoon is occupied by grassflats with an average water depth of about 3 feet that serve as spawning grounds for fish, clams and snails. Of course, that attracts birds.

Willet, Lesser Yellowlegs and Greater Yellowlegs

Blue-Winged Teals

Laguna Madre is famous for paddle-boarding.

I had only the afternoon to explore. I got into the very nice Malaquite Pavilion just in time to stamp my National Park Passport. 

Nice facilities

The Pavilion includes the Visitor Center, restrooms, cold-water showers, two observation decks, an auditorium and some really nice boardwalks that slice through the dunes to get you to the actual beach. The restrooms and showers are open 24 hours per day, seven days a week except when being cleaned from 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. daily. That's a nice feature (although the day would have to be much hotter for me to take a cold shower).

Boardwalk to the beach

Pet-friendly restrooms and rinse-off showers are located at the northern end of the Pavilion parking area. The park has campgrounds but does not sell ice, firewood, gasoline or fishing licenses. So, make sure you have snacks, drinks and gasoline if you plan to visit. Oh, and bring along some insect repellent and sun block, too.

In the short time I was there, I took a nice walk along the beach ...

A nice day to walk

 Then I checked out the lagoon …

Brown Pelican

And, finally, I took a walk through the grasslands, trying to photograph Eastern Meadowlarks and being eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Away from the beach, in the tall sea grass ...

Sea grass

I saw lots of Eastern Meadowlarks, which seemed far more skittish than the Western Meadowlarks I am used to ...

Most stopped far away to sing their beautiful songs

It took quite a while to get near enough for a (semi-decent) close-up ...

Eastern Meadowlark

The small part of Padre located outside of the National Seashore boundaries is surprisingly sedate. I didn’t see many hotels or restaurants. It was difficult to envision Padre as a spring break location, especially compared to South Padre Island, which seems to have more services and more paved road access to the beach.

I had not originally planned to visit Padre Island (or, for that matter, Aransas NWR) on this trip, but I am so glad that I did.

As I was leaving the park, I saw another Crested Caracara – one of my main goals for the trip. I think he was wishing me a safe trip home.

Bonus!

Trip date: February 6-11, 2018