An Afternoon on the Palos Verdes Peninsula -- Part Three

Coni is still taking a break...dear hubby is on a roll...

After checking in to see that Donald Trump was OK...we continued on around the Palos Verdes Peninsula. After you pass the Trump National Golf Club, the road begins to lead away from the cliffs edges and you have to say goodbye to the beautiful ocean view.

Goodbye ocean...hello San Pedro

 Before you know it you are entering the back side of San Pedro

San Pedro is home to the Port of Los Angeles and the entrance to the Los Angeles Harbor. Built on a hillside looking down (for the most part) to the harbor, the views are mostly ships, containers, and huge cranes to move the cargo.

The view from the hills of San Pedro down to the Port of Los Angeles

We continued down the hills of San Pedro past the Ports o' Call (an area of shops and restaurants that is fun to visit), past the Cruise Ship Terminal and up onto the Vincent Thomas Bridge.

From a distance it looks a bit like the Golden Gate Bridge

It is an impressive bridge. When we first moved to LA, it was a toll bridge, but now it is free to cross.

High atop the bridge, you have a view of the ships in the port.

Beauty in this area is hard to find...industrial storage, cranes and containers as far as you can see -- They don't make postcards of these views!

 Containers...

 ...and more containers...that's the extent of the view

Another bridge to take us over the waterway and on to Long Beach

An attempt at beautification...blue wavy decorations along-side the LA River retaining wall

Once you transition onto the 710N, you look up to see the top of the wall that contains the the LA River. When the rains come (and they do), this river runs full, right up near the top of the wall that runs along-side the freeway.

Passing over the LA River into Long Beach

Passing over the "scenic" LA River marks the end of our Palos Verdes Peninsula drive. From there we were back on the 405 and heading for home. While out on the peninsula, it felt like we stepped out into another world for the afternoon. Scenic views, memories made and always great company...we love our afternoon drives.

Tomorrow, dear hubby will share his version of Saturday night cooking for Coni.

An Afternoon on the Palos Verdes Peninsula -- Part Two

Her break continues...

Whenever we drive around the Palos Verdes Peninsula, my mind always wonders back to what it would have been like years ago. After visiting Fort MacArthur (located at the south end of the peninsula above the entrance to the Los Angeles Harbor), I learned that located around the peninsula there were outlook bunkers used in World War II. These bunkers were built into the sides of the cliffs we travel along on our drive. Many of them are still in place. Some of them were connected with underground tunnels. In their day, they were manned by soldiers looking out to sea, watching for enemy ships or submarines. In the tour of the old Fort (now a museum), you can walk through some of the underground bunkers and imagine the soldiers heading out to their outposts.

So, on our delightful Saturday afternoon drive around the Palos Verdes Peninsula, I enjoyed the views, especially enjoyed the company, and as we rounded another bend or looked over another cliff, looking out over the ocean, I thought of the soldiers of long ago, sitting in a hidden bunker on the edge of the cliff, protecting our coastline.

Back to our drive...

What happened to Marineland of the Pacific?

We rounded a bend and to the right was a beautiful golf course. In the distance was the spa and resort Terranea and very upscale homes and condos. This is the site of the old Marineland. Coni and I visited it while on vacation with her family (I was the invited 17-year-old boyfriend) back in 1970.

When we visited Marineland with our kids in 1986 it looked like this

Our drives around the  peninsula over the past 13 years rarely passed without pulling off the road and driving through the old entrance and across the weed covered parking lot, to look at the long-ago abandoned remnants of Marineland. Two or three years ago, the earth movers came, old signs and buildings were torn down and this is now the view...what a change!

 New signs...

...new walking paths, new buildings and no more Marineland

Down the road a little ways is Abalone Cove

In it's day these waters were a hot spot for the abalone divers

An informative plaque is set up to point visitors due west...

...to view Santa Catalina Island (on the horizon in the haze)

Another plaque is set up to explain the Portuguese bend (just ahead). The Portuguese Bend is an area of ever-shifting land. The area is under continual movement, slides, land shifts, sink areas, etc.

The warning sign reads, "Use Extreme Caution - Constant Land Movement."

And there are houses surrounding the area...go figure?

Dips and rises

The black pipes running along the right side of the road (up and down the roller coaster-like dips), are the water pipes. They have to be placed on top of the ground or they would be continually breaking and leaking.

Trump National Golf Club

Just south of the Portuguese Bend you come to the Trump National Golf Club (as in Donald Trump). Before he purchased the beautiful golf facility, it was just getting the finishing touches on it when the eighteenth hole (and an earth-mover or two) dropped off into the ocean. Construction stopped and it lay dormant, until Donald Trump came in and bought it at a fire sale price. Now positioned next to the Portuguese Bend with its shifting earth, no one seems to remember the old eighteenth hole.

More tomorrow...once you get dear hubby started, it is hard to get him to stop...

An Afternoon on the Palos Verdes Peninsula -- Part One

This is "dear hubby."  Coni is letting me be the guest blogger this weekend...she needs a break...

Since we were little kids we loved the beach. Coni and I grew up spending our summer vacations at the Oregon Coast with our respective families. We both developed a love for seeing the ocean, and driving along the coast is one of our favorite pastimes. This weekend, we felt like it was time to take the beautiful, scenic trip around the Palos Verdes Peninsula. It is one of the most beautiful areas in Southern California. With views from the high cliffs looking down to the peaceful ocean, and Santa Catalina Island on the horizon, the drive around the peninsula is breath-taking. Here are some of the views from our afternoon on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

 Our first stop was a high atop a cliff with panoramic view. From here if you look north (on a clear day) you can see all the way to Malibu.

 If you look to the west (and through the haze) you can see Catalina Island

Down below is a hidden cove that the local surfers hike down the trail (you can see it running diagonally down the side of the opposite cliff wall) to surf long running waves when there are swells out of the northwest. (But only locals!)

We were parked next to a beautiful 1929 Ford. I had to stop and talk to the owner. He restored the car from the ground up. It was absolutely perfect!

 Further along on the peninsula (just past where Rosanne used to live), there is another little hidden cove that is a favorite of local divers. A dive boat was there and in the background Catalina is peeking through the haze.

The greater Los Angeles area is technically a coastal desert region. If it weren't for all the irrigation, it would look like this...arid land right up to the ocean.

One of our regular stops on this drive is the Point Vincente Interpretive Center. This center is a counting location for tracking the whale migrations. 

The bulletin board warns visitors about the Whale Crossing

All of the visitors are hoping to see some whales (but it is not migration time)

Looking from the observation deck to the south, is the Point Vincente Coast Guard lighthouse

The beautiful grounds at the Point Vincente lighthouse

The drive continues...tomorrow...