The Santa Monica Shimmy

We sure are a couple of 'dirty dogs'...or I should correct myself...were a couple of 'dirty dogs'. Your hair seems dirtier than it is when it's always blowing in the salty sea air. So today seemed like the perfect day to find a new place to take showers! Hooray shower day! Also hopes of the sky clearing up was in the mix, kind of a dismal day at the coast.

Pretty much we got up, I walked Savannah... we didn't even roll up the bed. We were sitting there putting a State Park into the GPS and this guy rolled by on his bicycle and as he passed, he yelled, "Flat tire!" I jumped out and looked at the rear tires...the rear driver side tire was low...not flat, but low. Thanks Mister Bicycle Man! The first thing we did was head away from the coast to get some gas and check the air pressure.

At this point, I could probably get my hair to stand up in a mohawk by itself (eww), due to all that nature has blown into it over the past few days! Aww, but if my hair were long, it would be of the most gorgeous curls that a girl gets only from the beach...yep, those were the days! haha (Can you tell I'd like my long hair back!?) Needless to say...this girl is feeling a little funky!

Driving through the mountains to the park actually drove us right out of the clouds and into beautiful cloudless blue skies. We drove to one park, the name escaping me now and it was closed. To another park and we couldn't figure out how to get the darn gate to open...they never have anyone posted there...finally someone was driving out and we were able to drive in. We spent about 3 whole minutes inside the park only to drive out and on down the road. We were looking for something specific for our day and the parks we had stopped in were not it. We finally just drove to the Malibu Creek State Park...where we were driving initially and found some pretty good open parking.

The lots are big and open but they have a couple of back lots that you can tell have not been tended to in quite some time...maybe even about to start construction in them. Perfect spot for us to spend a couple of hours doing our thing. We parked, situated ourselves and then started digging into our day. Since we put the solar shower away a few months ago, the way we have been taking showers has changed a little. In the dead cold of the Winter we were "taking showers" inside of the van, over the toilet...it worked for what we needed. Now that it's a little nicer to stand outside, we get our gallon jug with the top that J' drilled holes into (our shower head),fill it half with "room" temperature water then heat up the other half, mix it together and you've got yourself a warm-to-hot shower my friends! The nice part is, there is two of us so we can hold the jug of water over the other ones head, so you have the hands-free option! All we need is about 10 minutes, our bathing suits (depending where we are) and just like that we're just like new! Ahhh, nothing like a hot shower on a beautiful day...in a beautiful place!

[caption id="attachment_4335" align="aligncenter" width="225"] So fresh & so clean[/caption]

I have been trying to straighten my hair, with my flat iron, since leaving my sista's house...because it makes me happy and with my hair being so short is very curly and drives me a little crazy because I'm growing it out...BUT I have to heat it up to such a high temperature, our 1000 watt invertor does not want to heat it up to that temperature only going up to 55, maybe 65 degrees. If it would just get up to like 90, it might just work but it won't...tried three different times even with the engine on. I guess my hats will be making even more appearances! Oooh, maybe I could get one that doesn't draw so much power...? I'm just thankful for bobby pins! While I was waiting and waiting...and waiting for my flat iron to heat up, I came across these little booties that we found on our walk the other day. J' actually found them. They are 4 little pink paw booties for pups...they are adorable and just the right size for the Nana Bug!

Now I know my dog and I know she absolutely hates her feet being touched, but I also know I'm always picking stuff out of her feet so I wanted to give them a go. And that's when I laughed harder than I've laughed in a minute. If you have ever put booties on (certain) dogs, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. She stood still for a a few minutes, then after calling her and calling her, she finally came walking toward me, waving her paws in the air, probably trying to figure out what is underneath her paw...taking BIG steps...one foot at a time, hahaha sooo funny. She didn't find it too amusing but daddy did! haha

[caption id="attachment_4338" align="aligncenter" width="350"] She's not laughing![/caption]

We putzed around for a little while. J' had some Joon Van maintenance he wanted to tend to...not only did he fix the wood piece (that holds one of our bed boards in place, that was coming out of the door), he was also able to push out the biggest part of the dent on our sliding door! Which was not even on his to-do list! Huge, man...totally huge! That dent has been there since the day we bought it (previous owners daughter put it there). It has always been an eye sore to us and now it's mostly gone, you can barely see it now, of course there are still a few dings but c'mon. What a great day!

The little things people!!

[caption id="attachment_4339" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Before & After[/caption]

 We were planning on staying at the park all day until we had these two guys learning how to drive a school bus...okay let me interrupt myself...this one guy learning how to back up a school bus...with the backing up noise on every time. Beep Beep BEEP BEEP! Oh my goodness. Do people really think a state park is the place to do this? I thought they had bus driver school...? We think there must have been a field trip going on and the driver of the bus was training the other guy, so while the kids were gone they went into teaching mode. But seriously, we parked sooo far out of the way in a back lot...away from them. Right after our showers, they moved lots and were doing this about 10 feet, no joke, in front of the van. The guy even put cones out in front of our van for the other driver to back up to. haha It really never fails...if it's not construction it's something else to laugh about later. Needless to say, we mushed on...back to the beach.

We figured it would be a perfect time...and time of day to visit the Santa Monica Pier. It was something I definitely wanted to walk down and see before we left and with all of the change floating around us...you never know when that's going to happen! The last time I was on the Santa Monica Pier was 2003, I had a lay-over at LAX and thought it would be a super idea to see the Santa Monica Pier in between flights! I wasn't really hip on L.A. traffic at the time...got on a bus, with luggage, sat in stop-n-go traffic for about 50 minutes with just enough time to walk trot down the pier, buy a pair of Elvis sunglasses (I was on my way to Vegas), take a gloomy picture (due to it being a stormy day) and get back on a bus to sit in 50 more minutes of traffic to barely make my flight by about 12 minutes. At least it makes for a good story now, haha.

[caption id="attachment_4346" align="aligncenter" width="315"] Follow Up[/caption]

 The experience this time, was a whole different one. The sun was out so there were people everywhere, the rides were going, screams could be heard along with the sounds of laughter, talking, feet shuffling about. The Santa Monica Pier is "the last stop" on Route 66, so it's a world famous pier...pretty cool!

[gallery columns="4" ids="4350,4352,4347,4349,4351,4348,4353,4354"]

It was a pretty fun day. I do wish I had known about a picture my mom has, (she told me about after we left the pier). She has a picture of her grandmother standing in front of the big sign right at the front (street side) of the pier, the last time she was in Santa Monica, she came and walked the pier. It would be cool to have all three of our photos in front of the sign...oh well, next time!

[caption id="attachment_4355" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Lovin' it[/caption]

We ended our fantastical day back beach side. Tomorrow may be the start of our journey away from the coast...it's the talk of the fort.

PEACE