Southern California

Southern California
November 2006

[German Version - please klick]

After a break of a couple of years - actually much too long - I made it to the west coast of the USA again! This time not to Los Angeles, but to Oxnard (between LA and Santa Barbara). I checked my old photo albums, this has actually been my 26th Journey to beautiful California.

The flight this time went rather far towards the pole, probably for wind reasons. Normally the 6.000miles direct flight barely touches the south of Greenland, this time we flew we over the interior of Greenland in the far north, surprisingly we saw mountains in the sunset. During the normal flights in the south you just see glaciers and icebergs.

It was completely uncommon that we had about 1 hour of complete darkness on this flight. Normally the flight is 12-13 hours towards west always following the sun.

Surrounded by Aliens: After the arrival I had to show Venice Beach to my colleagues.

No pleasant temperatures for swimming: At least the feet had to touch the cold Pacific water.

Santa Monika: At many places the Iraqi war is brought to attention. The resistance against the commitment of the USA in Iraq grows also in the USA.

The other side of Santa Monika:

The entertainment park at the Pier, in the background the luxury hotels

On the Santa Monica Pier: The beautiful “Santa Monica Carousel” with its handcarved wooden horses from the year 1947. This carousel played one of the main roles in the gangster film “The Clou” with Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Oxnard:

I found and booked the hotel Embassy Suites Mandelay Beach Resortvia the Internet and I was not disappointed: Located directly at the beach, great place with moderate prices because of November.

View from the hotel of the Pacific.

Completely different, from what I have known in the LA area: Beaches with walk ways, seats and dunes - nearly like te North Sea in northern Germany (except for the Palm Trees of course).
Because of the underwater reefs swimmming is not recommended.

Trip from Oxnard via Ventura to Santa Barbara: The old mission church “San Buena Ventura” in Ventura.

Santa Barbara.

Similar to Santa Monica: Protest against the war near the Santa Barbara Pier.

We had a pretty thoughtful walk on the Santa Barbara Pier. I hope a peaceful solution will be found for the Gulf reagion soon.

A picture for Jörg and the Immenstaad fire-brigade guys: Isn't that a beautiful truck?
I am sure no dust grain can be found on it.

Just for model railway fans: The Amtrak trains are really existing !!

No stay in Southern California without a visit to my favourite little town Hermosa Beach.

View from the “Hennessy Tavern” (excellent Hamburgers!!!) -->click here for livecam.
Do not forget: Depending upon where you are living you may only see a black cat in the dark because of the time difference.

Not too bad for a November day - compared to Germany where we had freezing level temparatures.

We normally tool HWY 1 between LA and Oxnard; the Freeways have even more collapsed than 5 years ago.
Even having 12 lanes (6 in each direction) does not prevent jams.

Here a few impressions of HWY 1:

Well, who would like to stay in that house during a Pacific winterstorm?

Naval Air Station POINT Mugu between Oxnard and Malibu. Unfortunately I have been too late for the August Airshow.

Malibu Pier

Departing from the beautiful Southern California is hard, my colleague Frank took this great shot.

Well, I did not succeed with all of my plans I had for this trip: For example I did not make the "hat trick" (a steak every day). However, besides steaks the Californian kitchen offers many different kinds of food in an excellent quality. Here is another example, the “blooming onion”; that is a vegetarian alternate to steak - well, I must admit: I had it as first course - before a steak!!!

I hope, you enjoyed the pictures - that was a high-speed passage through a marvelous country. By the way, do not believe the fairy tales spread allover the world about the unfriendly Americans. America is still one of the most hospitable countries, which I know. Not even the fact that they took photos and finger marks prints really bothered me. The chances, to get a US-sponsored vacation in Guantanamo because of finger prints are less than 1:1 billion - if you don´t have an Arab sounding name. . . . . .(with my Ketchup name I sure will not run into that problem)

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