Point Mugu, California

March 25, 26, 27 and 28, 2017

We weren’t looking forward to driving near Los Angeles.  But our next destination was on the Pacific coast near Oxnard.  And you can’t get there from Cherry Valley much any other way.  So on a Saturday morning we took off for a military RV park at Point Mugu Naval Air Station.

It wasn’t that bad. Yes, traffic sometimes crawled for what seemed like no reason. But we had few problems until we were just a mile or two from Point Mugu -- and what happened had nothing to do with vehicles or road signs.  Doggie Arlo -- whose much more vocal than Maddie if he wants out of his kennel -- started making noise.  Then more noise.  And more.  But there was no where to pull over.  Just after we could smell the reason Arlo wanted out of his kennel, Jim found a spot where Arlo made a quick exit and continue getting rid of what was upsetting his stomach. Obviously we still had a dog with GI problems. 

The RV park was just yards from sand. When I checked in, I was told we should not disturb the sea lion sleeping on the beach.  I said of course, thinking the sea lion was probably on a rock near the shore which is where we usually see them.  But it was literally sleeping in the sand in the middle of the beach in an area roped off with what looked like crime scene tape.  I thought the lion was there for the long haul and told myself to get a photo the next day.  But by then the big guy and any indication of a crime were gone.

We stayed at Point Mugu for four nights and it was a great place to walk along the ocean. At the recommendation of Kat, Paul’s SO, we also wanted to go to Santa Barbara.  But with wind gusts up to 60 mph, and kayaks on top of the car making us kite-like, we explored closer to “home.” We took a trip to Ventura and its famous wooden pier (first built in 1872 for $45,000 and rebuilt several times after being sliced by a ship, plus fire and storm damaged).  We hit the Ventura brew pubs. We bought the biggest and sweetest roadside-stand strawberries I’ve ever eaten.  We drove south to Malibu where we saw film crews in action. And then we walked the beaches some more.

Traffic -- complete with limos -- came to a near standstill several place on "the 210" north of Los Angeles. And this is Saturday morning traffic.

I took very few photos this trip, but this one features Jim's IPA at the  Made West Brewery in Ventura.  We also sampled at Ventura's Surf Brewing.

Jim and dogs somewhere near Point Mugu.  A lot of nearby beaches only allowed dogs during morning or evening hours when local would be walking them before and after work. But the military base beach was good with dogs at any time as long as they were leashed.