Trip to the Anza-Borrego Desert

The Anza-Borrego desert had been on “my list” of places to check out for a while. Luckily for us, we had the chance to go out this past President’s Day Weekend — perfect way to celebrate Larry’s birthday and enjoy the extra day off. 

 

 

My absolute favorite part was the slot canyon!

The slot canyon is found from a dirt road off Highway 78 … its really easy to miss! After driving on a dirt road (with patches of soft sand) for about 1.5 miles you find a parking area right above the slot canyon (shown above). You have to climb down a bit to get to the bottom, but its not a crazy scramble. 

I’d seen a video on Motion and read reviews suggesting to mark your starting point so you know where you climbed down from so we followed that suggestion.

After marking our starting point in the most obvious way possible, lol … we headed out. 

The hike is relatively cool. And flat.

But winding and narrow….

And super tall.

 

But super cool.

Larry made it a point to try and climb up.

But its way too tall, haha.

Say cheese!

At the end it starts to open up to beautiful skies….

Until its wide enough for a jeep to go through from the other end.

Tuggy had a great time.

So did I, but climbing up was not my favorite part.

After checking out the slot canyon we decided to try going to Fish Creek Camp.

But we got stuck in soft sand! Luckily for us a few jeeps stopped immediately to help us out, and pull the car out! After the excitement of all that, we decided it was best to turn around and camp elsewhere. 

We found an available spot at Tamarisk Campground. 

Of course we had s’mores.

We also spent time at the visitor center and checking out Galleta Meadows Estates sky art along the desert road.

Here are some pics:

Solstice Canyon Hike

Plans for our Sunday fell through, so we decided to make the drive out to Malibu for a waterfall hike. We have not had much rain this year, and being July, we knew the waterfall would be just a trickle.

And it was.

We spent very little time at the waterfall, and more time climbing rocks,  crossing the gently flowing creek in some parts and checking out birds along the hike.

We saw several of these Acorn Woodpeckers.

We came across several interesting trees.

 Lots of poison oak. Everywhere!  Long pants strongly encouraged (now that I know this).   

Vanalden Cave Trail in Tarzana

We decided to spend the afternoon on Christmas Day checking out the Vanalden Cave after seeing it on another blog. The hike was short, probably about a half mile into the canyon… so it is a quick reward with not a lot of work.

A perfect hike for the little man.

Once we arrived, we noticed a big face carving on the left side of the cave’s entrance.

Inside, much more of the same continues, as the cave’s sandstone walls are covered with carvings of faces left behind by the generations.

Outside, there is a rope swing dangling off a tree. How fun is that?

While Tuggy played for a bit, I checked out some of the moss and plants growing on the outside walls. There was a pathway to the right of the cave that leads up to the top of the cave, but, despite its appeal, the recent rains discouraged us from any attempt to get up there.

Sadly, it is clear that this is a popular night time hangout for some — bottles, trash, graffiti, and ashes have been left behind.

In that respect, this wasn’t the ideal hike for my toddler on Christmas Day, but the cave itself was neat and worth the drive out there at least this one time.

Tuggy didn’t mind at all, only saying that the cave was “really awesome and cool” as we headed back towards the trailhead.

To Get There:

Head North on 405. Take 101 North. Exit Tampa, make a left. Left on Ventura Blvd. Right on Vanalden, and up the hill to the dead end. Street parking is plentiful.

For GPS, just navigate to the corner of Vanalden Ave & Gleneagles Dr in Tarzana. Can’t miss the trailhead at the dead end.

 

Santa Picture 2012

Tuggy was happy to see Santa this year. He asked for spiderman, and batman because his big dog disel bit his batman toy. lol. Silly kid.

A Muddy Walk Through Deer Canyon Park Reserve

I’d come across Deer Canyon Park Reserve on another blog and booked marked it for another day. Yesterday, we had the intention to visit Santiago Oaks Regional Park, but somehow I missed the entrance an ended up just down the street from Deer Canyon. Following my GPS instructions, I navigated our way to the not-real-obvious entrance to this park, which is found at inside a neighborhood, near a gated community.

With this oddly placed park entrance, comes free parking on the street– there seems to be no specific parking lot for this park. This park is dog friendly. There are bags near the entrance and  trash cans along the various trails as well.

We went on a drizzly day, with muddy dirt trails and gray skies, and plants showered with rain drops.

Perfect day for a nice walk in the rain. Diesel had fun. Wilson would have preferred the warmth of his blankets at home, but he did ok. His papa carried him most of the way, as usual.

Daddy stopped for a moment to get a break, and a kiss.

We found a tree swing along one of the trails that follow this tiny creek. Not sure where all the trails go, but I have read the park itself spreads across 103 acres.

We will be back another day to explore the rest.

Since there is not a lot out there on Deer Canyon Park, and finding the entrance is kind of tricky, here’s directions:

From West Anaheim, head east on the 91, exit Weir Canyon to the right. Few lights down, turn right on Serrano Avenue and an immediate right onto Canyon Creek Roan. Down a ways, you turn left onto Sunset Ridge Road and right onto Hollow Oak Road. Park on the street near the private gate (dead ends here). Entrance to Deer Canyon Park Reserve is on the left.

Winter Wonderland in Los Alamitos

This year the city of Los Alamitos held the City’s first “Winter Wonderland” event at the St. Isidore Historical Plaza. They brought in 25 tons of snow, a trackless train, and other activities.

It was rainy and cold. I wasn’t sure if the event would still be going on, but as soon as we arrived, the lines started forming.

We only spent about half an hour there, but this kid had a blast.

We will have to keep this on our radar for next year 🙂

Tide Pools at Abalone Cove Shoreline Park

I have been wanting to visit Abalone Cove Shoreline Park for a while, but after hearing an interesting review about the tough trail down from a best friend, I was a bit nervous to check this place out with Tuggy.

Luckily for us, it wasn’t that bad. Tuggy did just fine.

 

After reviewing this map, we chose this route down to the tide pools:

From the parking area, we opted to take the trail on the left (if you are facing the beach), which is Chapel View Trail. The trial heads downhill towards Beach School Trail, which is paved and ends at Sea Dahlia Trail. This trail is a rocky, and steep, but we soon found ourselves at the rocky beach. We kept to the left, crossing over a long stretch of rocks. Here, we saw a small waterfall. Having seen other waterfalls, this is nothing impressive but unexpected, to say the least. We continued on the sand towards Portuguese Point, where we saw the most amazing tide pools.

We saw a ton of starfish, and we even caught a good view of an octopus as it chased after a scurrying crab.

I had an awesome time checking out the tide pools, but sunset was fast approaching. Reluctantly, we headed back up Sea Dahlia Trail and this time, opted to take Olmstead Trail. This was a longer but smoother, uphill trail that ended up on Palos Verdes Drive. From there, we followed the road back to Beach School Trail and Chapel View Trail back to the parking lot. From any of these trails you get amazing views of the park, and in the distance Catalina.

 

I was very impressed, and can’t wait to go back and share this place with others.

Adventure with Jay at Clark Regional Park

Since Jason was on vacation, I had promised him an adventure. I had been wanting to check out Clark Regional Park since reading about it on a blog, so, I decided this would be perfect for an adventure with Jay. The original plan was to go to Santiago Oaks Park, but for some reason, last-minute, I changed my mind. Good thing, because, this little park in Buena Park was awesome.

As soon as we got there, I noticed that the interpretive center was open… score! This place is small but features some really cool fossils. The kids had fun checking it out.

After spending some time in the interpretive center, we walked along the lake towards a playground.

Immediately, I spot an egret at the lake’s edge. I was a bit surprised to see it there, standing on the concrete like it was. I inch closer, hoping to take a cool picture of it and its shadow. Soon enough, the egret takes flight, and I get lucky enough to snap this shot:

Beautiful shot, if I might say so myself. 🙂

The kids spent some time on the playground, and then we all headed to the other side of the park to picnic under the shady trees. Noticing that sunset would be soon approaching, we hurried towards camel hill for a little hike with the kiddos and the pups.

We had awesome views at the top, without venturing really far. Who knew Clark Regional Park was full of so many pleasant surprises!

Halloween 2012

This year, Tuggy was spiderman for halloween. So cute!!!!

Here are some pics:

Pumpkin Patch 2012

October means its time for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with cousin Jay. 🙂