San Diego!

We spent two days with Aunt Mimi, Uncle John, and my cousins Starry and Pan. It was wonderful just to get to know them a tiny bit (and really with only 1.5 days together, it was a TINY bit). We weren't with them nearly long enough, but it was a start. Hopefully we planted seeds for more visits in future. They live on a mesa in San Diego overlooking a steep gorge, and a highway. We camped in their backyard, and Aunt Mimi made us wonderful meals, including a taco feast. In the end, just to be nice and modern, we all friended each other on Facebook. (My Craziness that is a weird thing to type!)

Pan introduced us to the cat, known to her as Rufus, and to Mimi as Mr. Scruff Puff. He likes belly-rubs a LOT.

Rhiannon spent most of the time there with a reasonably high fever, wrapped in one of great Grandma's afghans, and listening to Aunt Mimi's collection of children's records.

La Brea Pits

On Suki's excellent advice we went to see the tar pits, and happened right into a tour of the various locations of the actual tar, where it seeps up from underground. Apparently people from the surrounding area call the museum once in a while, asking them to "get your tar out of my yard", etc. It's an oil-deposit -- a site where thick black oil has been naturally bubbling up for many many millenia. It's not going to stop any time soon, I expect. And we got to see the results of about a hundred years of digs: fossils, bones, history. Very very interesting.

It just looks like a soft spot on the soil; maybe an old campfire. But when you step on it it squishes under your shoe. It's oil. It's the beginning of a new oil seed.

Eventually it may look something like this one, a little further into the park, and fenced off quite thoroughly.

Some floating statues illustrate the miserable deaths of the many many animals who perished, here.

And now their bodies are exhumed, bit by bit,

...and cleaned, studied, classified, preserved,

...and sorted.

For our learning pleasure.

The displays are really amazing.

This is the skeleton of a ground sloth.

And they put on a great bit of sabre-tooth drama for us, as well.

We got right in the belly of the thing, as it were...

We all agreed that, for the money spent (less than half the cost of the San Diego Zoo or the Monterey Bay Aquarium), the La Brea Tar Pits was definitely the best paid-for attraction we saw on this trip.

Venice Beach

On an overcast morning we cycled out to Santa Monica Pier for lunch (wonderful Tacos!), and got really thoroughly sunburned when the sun slowly crept out. It was a beautiful day!

My friend. you are really amazing.

Pura Vida

No, we didn't go to Costa Rica. Pura Vida is the name of Jon and Suki's home, currently sitting in Marina Del Rey. We spent a few days at a hotel nearby, and now we can say we've finally been aboard!! Yay! She was under strict instructions to stay in berth, with a bad flu in her engine, and some skin repair happening, but at least we got a good look around, and to enjoy a lovely meal, cooked by Suki, in her galley. The kids spent a night aboard, with their dear friends, who definitely have the coolest sleepover-digs we've seen.

That flag looked so big in their hands. I guess it's a big boat!

Welcome!!

Left.

Right!

The main area (does this qualify as a 'mess'?)

Certainly it does!!

Kai and Hunter's most excellent clubhouse.

Good for all sorts of games...

And games in the dark.

Really. The dark.Who needs more than a 2-inch screen for light, anyway?!

Miracle Springs Resort and Spa

With great thanks to Miracle Springs Resort and Spa, we spent two days relaxing in the desert.

I don't deal with heat very well, to say the least. I'm usually toast after about 25C. I've also never had even the slightest desire to visit tropical resorts, blue-water pools and palm trees. It feels so fake. I must admit I was unimpressed when Suki suggested hanging out not only in the desert but in hot springs in the desert... but I know Suki's more genuine than the classless stereotype I harbour, and  I thought I'd better not complain about such an experience being handed to me on a platter. Thank goodness I didn't. It was fabulous!! It wasn't intolerably hot, most of the time, and in the evening the pools full of mineral-thick hot water were totally delightful. Time spent with our dear friends would have been wonderful, anywhere, but this really was a lovely place.

(Yes -- that's Suki and Kai photosynthesizing on the right.)

The rooms are definitely not five-star accommodation, but they're large, clean, simple, and enjoyable. They include a microwave, fridge, large couch, and coffee-table, as well as a balcony and air-conditioners. The bathrooms have a laundry-line which strings out across the tub, for the inevitable wet swimsuits, etc. Wi-Fi is free, and none of them are very far from the courtyard and pools.

In the too-hot afternoon, Suki and I worked on setting up her blog.

The largest and coolest of the pools, used by many (and many kids) gets rather yucky during the day, with bandaids, sunscreen, and plant-litter, but the surrounding hot pools have a higher concentration of healing minerals, anyway, so that was where we spent most of our time.

The cafe at the hotel has totally affordable meals. We ate an ample and tasty breakfast for 2 for $15, while watching the kids play in the pool, right beside us.

And TV. Of course, all the hotels we've been in had TV, but at Miracle Springs the kids all tumbled exhausted into bed after a long day of hiking, playing, and swimming, and watched some kind of reality-chef-show... while Suki continued her agonizing quest for a blog name.

Midnight. Good night!

Em! Hurry! Owl!

Just a few meters into our hike, Suki called in a whisper: "Em! Hurry! Owl! Right there! A burrowing owl!"

And there was her burrow. She guarded it fiercely, until we came too close, at which point she fled down the hill in a flutter of brown and dust.

Just a little hill.

But the little hill led to another, and another, and soon we were looking down at Desert Hot Springs from ravenously windy perch in the sun.

We watched L.A.'s haze sitting still on the horizon; I was glad to be above the thick of it.

Just a few nice little cacti. Tal found the skeleton of a much larger one.

OK -- we can do this!

Actually not. NOT. GOING. ANY. FURTHER.

"Come on, Annie! You can do it!"

And aaaaalllll the way back down again! It was really incredibly steep!