John & Anne Wiley

Something about the sea attracts people. I used to get really strong urges to visit the beach if I hadn’t seen it for a while (like when I lived far from it). When we first moved to Santa Barbara, we went to the beach daily. Just standing there staring at it, or walking along the sand, wading, splashing, sitting and listening to the heartbeat of surf… Everything about the beach was nourishing, healing and refreshing to us.

Not so much now. We still enjoy all those things, but often just glancing at the sea while driving around town seems to instantly provide enough of all that. Occasionally we’ll go out on Stearn’s Wharf which of course provides all but the sandy feet, and we rarely actually visit the beach.

2087 Lunging Seaward

Maybe this sense of oceanic fulfillment is why looking at this home makes me wonder what it’s like there during a major storm. How would it fare standing up to a rogue wave? If I were standing there as a tsunami approached, what would I do? OK, in case I haven’t ruined it for you I also like to imagine sleeping on that balcony. 🙂

2114 Another Plane

About a minute later we noticed another plane, this time going in the opposite direction but again quite a safe distance. Still, I was glad that my policy is to fly higher and further from shore where it’s that extra bit safer. Past the La Piedra  and just before the El Matador State Beach is an extra unusual building, presumably a home.

2126 Gaudi Beach

The curved walls appear somewhat Gaudi-esque. I wonder if it was built organically over time, with the location and orientation designed to best handle prevailing winds and weather with good sunsets while providing shade. Sea Level Drive on the outskirts of Malibu goes out to the small promontory where this imposing structure surveys the sea:

2154 West Malibu Gate

Quite a view they have of the ocean, plus much of Malibu stretching to the East from here. Sort of a guardian or observer of all that transpires in this area. Past the Malibu West Swimming Club (and the market I always thought of as downtown Malibu), some pretty amazing estates occupy the high ground.

2187 High Ground

Looking at a map though, Kanan Dume Rd. is more the center of Malibu, and this is probably my first photo of Point Dume. Somehow I didn’t associate this name reminiscent of Tolkien, with the heart of Malibu.

2207 Point Dume

Lots of imposing homes all along these shores of course, and this neighborhood East of Dume has an interesting collection. I like the sound of that phrase, East of Dume.

2219 East of Dume

I guess the name adds a lot to property values or something, because you’ll see Malibu associated with quite a long stretch of beach for miles on either side of Dume (I can’t stop playing with that name). Near the Pepperdine campus is the less-populated area of Malibu Lagoon, presumably named before lots of lots were sold.

2319 Malibu Lagoon

In fact, miles further East looking back at this lagoon in the distance from near Moonshadows and Las Tunas State Beach you’ll still find some Malibu references before it finally yields after one last restaurant at the base of Topanga Canyon. So the area of this photo could be called East Malibu even though Pt. Dume is far out of frame beyond the lagoon in the hazy distance.

2325 East Malibu

Airspace got busier from here on (flew the fun & easy “LA Special” corridor directly over LAX yet again), so I didn’t snap any more pix until Long Beach. Wonder if I’ll share some of those and on to San Diego, or maybe just shift to our more recent flight moving Tripp home from our Fog Stop at Santa Ynez the next evening.

It’s been fun treating this blog like a diary of sorts because we sometimes review the posts and recall related experiences, and also because it’s fun to share with you. So the longer gap between posts lately is a little surprising. We’ve had plenty of fun, but just didn’t blog for some reason(s).

We’ve become a little involved with the growing movement to replace four of the seven current SBCC Board of Trustees. Four new candidates are running for the first hotly contested Board election in recent memory. They were begged to run by many friends who know how much they can contribute to getting SBCC back on track, and we’re very much hoping to help get the word out because the local media hasn’t done a very good job. If you’re interested in education, take a look at the Citizens4SBCC group’s website where you can learn about the issues and the four to vote for: Haslund, Croninger, Blum, & Macker. If all you need is something to remember when voting:

No SBCC Incumbents!

OK, so another recent activity was our Sunday flight to San Diego for Dad’s 91st birthday. The date was actually last weekend, but we missed the family gathering then due to thick local fog that prevented us getting Tripp out of SBA using “Visual Flight Rules” (VFR, basically meaning clear of clouds).

As if to reward us for waiting, the weather was glorious! Here’s what we saw soon after takeoff, looking past SBA and UCSB out to the islands.

1910 SBA to Channel Islands

Looking the other way, the canyons leading up to the mountains were also incredibly beautiful. Such a place to live!

1922 Quiet Mountain

The first small bare spot on the ridge just left of center is a favorite local hang glider launch spot, but I guess the air was too calm because we didn’t see any flying. For more detail, click on Our Photo Page in the top right column to see tagged identification of areas on the mountain.  I’ll blog more about the trip soon (I hope).