Anniversary trip, part 2.

Could you do me a quick favor? Seriously like one second of your time is all I need. Will you share your opinion? (Quiz on the right side of this page--) Thanks bunches!!!

Part One is right HERE.

. . .
The day after Sequoia National Park was a L-O-N-G driving day. Poor Jon had to drive us through Malibu during some crazy mid-day traffic. We moved about sixteen miles in an hour! Ridiculous, people! Finally, we just HAD to have a pee break. But you know what? Eateries around there aren't required to have bathrooms. So we had to hit up five different places before some guy at the gelato shop took pity on Jon and let him use the employee bathroom. Yes, Jon went first because I felt so bad for him. And then I decided that the best plan of action would be to first decide on some food and then have me find a bathroom. Certainly the deli that we chose would have a public bathroom, right? Nope. So I told Jon what to order for me and then I went on a bathroom-seeking journey. I had to walk two blocks to a public bathroom. It was like this-- one tiny girl's bathroom along a line of shops across the street and around a corner from our deli. And that was the closest public bathroom. Not even the Starbucks had one. Hello-- people in there are drinking coffee and coffee makes you need to pee lots. At least that's what I've heard. What the heck? How do the people of Malibu put up with such nonsense? Anyway, I finally made it to the bathroom and there were three ladies in line in front of me. The two at the end let me cut. Apparently I looked like I was ready to burst. I made sure I left the bathroom in a much better state than the older lady who went in front of me did. Yikes!

Anyway, after that things calmed down and were much better. We ended up with delicious sandwiches that we ate sitting in cool wood lawn chairs on a grass-covered mini-lawn. Suddenly California was sunny and lovely all over again. And our sandwiches were so big that we could only eat half of our lunch, saving us the expense of buying a real dinner. We had linner all ready and waiting for us.

After getting more gas for the 4-Runner, we made our way to our destination-- lovely, gorgeous, wonderful El Matedor beach. It did not disappoint. We pulled up into a parking spot IN the parking lot! Our luck had turned. And then I saw these guys with Polaroid Land Cameras. Jon asked if I'd go talk to them and I said, "Of course!"

Now, I'm not usually the type that just goes off and talks to new people like that, but they were driving a refurbished bright orange car with glittery-sparkly upholstery. And they had Polaroids. So I went over to chat while Jon paid our parking fare. They told me that they were impressed that a non-local knew of El Matedor, and I told them that I liked their car and their camera, and we got to talking about Polaroids, and I was so jealous. The one guy had a stockpile of old vintage Polaroid film-- 669 and 600 stuff. . . And then I took a picture of them sitting in their tangerine car overlooking the Pacific and handed it back, and a minute later, they peeled it and said, "Man, this girl really knows her stuff." Yay. In the first place, they liked my photo lots. And in the second place, they thought of me as considerably younger than them, which I doubt I was.

And then we walked down to the beach.

How gorgeous is this place?

On the way downstairs to the beach, I got stopped three times so people could ask me questions about my Polaroid cameras. I had my SX70 and my 350 land camera out, and Jon asked if I was feeling like a rock star by the time we got to the bottom. He said, "You're getting way more attention than all the people with their fancy digital cameras running around here." And it was true. There were seven or so other people running about with fancy-pants digital cameras, several of them doing shoots of "models." None of them were asked about their cameras. Jon was watching. And I still got asked about my cameras a few more times while walking along the water's edge. I'm not going to lie, it was kind of fun telling them that yes, these were functional older Polaroids and yes, there is still film to be had for them.

I make faces when I take photos. That's my secret. 

I wish I'd taken photos of the "models" out there-- There was one girl with purple hair who kept swinging her head from side to side as her "move." I'm guessing. There was another girl in a skimpy outfit that was so giggly, but as soon as the camera turned on her, she'd make these deep, thoughtful faces and would really get into it. Also, she was maybe 18 and had dyed her hair gray. I'm not kidding you. I saw it in several lighting conditions. Each time, gray. Oh, and Jon saw her get trounced by a big sneaky wave while she was trying for a seductive pose laying on the sand.

So happy to have some beach time together.

There isn't much more to say about the beach other than it was lovely and relaxing and so scenic. We'd never been to this beach before and even though it was crazy to get to, it was so worth it. Even Jon (who did the driving while I did the directing) had to agree. Amazing place.

We LOVED this beach.

Jon, jumping. :)

We spent the night at a really nice place for not very much at all. We woke up and had a lovely continental breakfast, and then we took a long walk along a river trail and fed some ducks. Then we drove over to pick up a dresser that we'd bought on e-bay. As Jon put it, "It looks better in real life than it even did on-line." An it's true. We are so happy with it. It is a mid-century solid wood 8-drawer dresser. I'll put up photos of it soon. We are delighted with our purchase. And the young woman we bought it from was so helpful. She provided the additional human-power that we needed to keep the dresser balanced on its back while Jon put the drawers in it. She marveled that our 4-Runner could fit it, but fit it it did. And there was plenty of room to spare for our clothes and cameras and snacks to fit in around it when we were done.

An amazing whirlwind of a trip. It was a great quick little anniversary trip out to California. A change of scenery and pace. And as always, it was so fun to go adventuring with Jon. It was great to have hours and hours of uninterrupted quality time with my honey. Time to talk in the car, time walking, hiking, and photographing-- I couldn't have imagined a better anniversary. Jon says it could have been better if we'd gone back to Hawaii. . . haha.