Day 29 - Casual exploration of SoCal

 After three full days of major tourist sites, today was set for a far more relaxing day - it certainly didn’t start with an alarm clock, though it did start with lots of noise in camp.  We had a casual breakfast of pancakes (leftovers packed for lunch) and developed a plan for the day while the boys finished their movie.  It was decided that kids museum and some tide pools (2 PM low tide) would be a great way to spend the day.  Slowly, we piled back into the car and headed off to the museum.

On our way out of camp, we had another “We’ll never see one of those” moments - two roadrunners were on the road out of camp!  That was a special treat.  


The kids museum we selected was the Science cube and as we were leaving, it was descibed by the boys as  “It was cool”.  There were a LOT of exhbits and the boys were entertained by each of them.  The memorable ones included

  • A laser maze you had to get through without the lasers touching you

  • A machine to test reaction times of sight, sound, and touch

  • A touch with both stingrays and sharks



  • A virtual helicopter tour which taught a lot about energy and how the LA area is turning yard waste into renewable natural gas

  • Learning how a geyser works

  • A shopping area where Robinson went shopping for potato chips and cake

  • A bed of nails



  • An area to build and race cars

  • A marble run machine - the rare kind that was actually working

  • A hurricane simulating wind machine

  • A hockey exhibit sponsored by the Ducks where Robinson tried his luck at goalie

  • An area to test being pest control inspectors

  • A Lego Velociraptor!




After the science museum, we headed down to Laguna Beach for tide pool exploration.  It was Saturday and the weather was nearly ideal so it was very crowded and parking was an issue, but we made it work by having Amy park while the boys and I jumped out near the beach. 


The tide pools are protected areas and so there were some people there explaining the animals that live there and doing their best to help keep the area protected from humans.  In the tide pools, we were able to see

  • Crabs - Robinson counted 150 before he quit

  • Garibaldi

  • Aenomes

  • Urchins

  • Kelp

  • A sea slug


  • At the tide pool area, there was also a cool "cave" that had been eroded away. The boys really enjoyed this.




After exploring the tide pools, Robinson also tried to explore the Pacific Ocean in general.  He found out that it is COLD.  So we urged him to get out and we explored the beach a bit.  There was a really cool arch in the rocks so we snapped a few pictures there.  It would be interesting to revisit that area at high tide just to see how much it changed.


Once we were done with the beach, there was a debate about how to get back to the car.  I walked while Amy and the boys waited for the trolley.  The answer for who won?  It was a tie.  


On the way back to camp we stopped at a Sprouts to pick up a few groceries and made it back to camp - at 7 PM again (we really need to start ending our days so late).  The drive back did have some traffic, but also a highlight as we drove past the home of the Anaheim Angels.  There was a game, but it wasn’t for us.  We just wanted to get back to camp, get some food and go to sleep.  This was just what we did!  


Thanks Southern California - we enjoyed you, but it’s time to get back into nature.


Total Mileage - 5,169

# States (Provinces) - 14

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