Seconds With Steff

I reorganised all of our stuff, packed my box to mail home, prepped our route for today — because LA traffic is no joke — got an amazing night’s sleep, and we were off…

Well, it might never rain in Southern California, but the days sure do start off cloudy. Fog embanked us as we left the Channel Islands area, so there was no chance of going to any vista point to see anything.

The first stop of the day was Mugu Missile Park. Long Island has something similar at home over by Grumman’s old field. This is right outside Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu.

I then made a split-second decision to go see Point Dume again. I went in 2019 but didn’t love my pictures.

My mother loved the Planet of the Apes movies, and this is where the final scene with Charlton Heston — with the remnants of the Statue of Liberty — was filmed.

On my way out, I found the door that started my collection.

Weirdly, there is a Muffler Man in Malibu feeling all Route 66!

Arriving in Santa Monica early, we decided to take on the 2½-mile walk to the Venice Skatepark — only to discover it was closed to film something, and no one could tell us what… NDA… blagh.

We stood there for a while waiting for something to happen, but nothing ever did.

So if you see a movie, commercial, or show with the skatepark in these colours, you’ll know that I was there the day it was filming…

I promised Hunter a pedi-cab back to the pier, but they were nowhere to be found — so one Lyft later, I realised it really is a long walk.

We then visited our friend Ian at 66 to Cali! He actually remembered us! It was great to see him and catch up on the last two years. Hopefully he reads this tonight!

Then we had our picture taken at the End of the Trail sign again.

Then it was a matter of finding our way out and staying on Highway One — which was not the easiest thing to do. I had programmed the GPS last night because it did not want me to take this route!

After a stop at the LAX In-N-Out, we were headed to my favourite store in California: Huntington Surf and Sand. I got Hunter six T-shirts, a button-down RVA, and a hoodie for $200. That was with tax — and California tax is almost 10% — so I did fairly well.

I was so excited about the clothes, I never took a pic. But I did at Inis!!

Inis is my favourite perfume in the world, and — by chance — it was practically next to HSS! The manager was lovely and gave me samples. It was the perfect pick-me-up!

We then drove the final stretch to Dana Point, which took us quite a while because traffic was insane. Laguna Beach took 30 minutes to go five miles. But we got through and took the proper end-of-Pacific Coast Highway pic. The lighting was terrible, so I included my 2022 photo — which I took not knowing what it was, other than a PCH marker.

After a little more driving, Hunter and I had a delicious dinner! He got lobster mac and cheese, and I ate kale! It was completely an accident, and I’ll never do it again — but I totally ate it!

Now come on y’all… you know we’re not done yet! We will be completing the Pacific Coast Highway all the way down to San Diego on this trip!

However… we’re going to take a two-day breather to hang out in my favourite place in the entire world. I think I have a couple of those at this point, but this is my oldest favourite!

Wanna guess what it is?

This is our digs for the next three nights!

Now come on y’all… you know we’re not done yet! We will be completing the Pacific Coast Highway all the way down to San Diego on this trip!

However… we’re going to take a two-day breather to hang out in my favourite place in the entire world. I think I have a couple of those at this point, but this is my oldest favourite!

Wanna guess what it is?

This is our digs for the next three nights!

Vertullo Summary – Traffic and a lack of skateboarders.