First off- many, many kudos for Dave driving down Highways 101, 405 and 5 to get through LA and Orange County. I lost many lives during this move from the Malibu area to essentially San Clemente/ San Onofre area. People drive so blindly- merging without looking (really- you don’t see this 12’ tall giant box??!), or darting in front of us while knowing we are quickly slowing down. I keep thinking they must have a death wish. But we made it, and I did not have the heart attack that I felt was so close!!
The campground was pretty boring; it overlooked a dry canyon with a few chaparral type bushes and grasses. It had nice bathrooms and showers, and decent privacy. It was pretty empty until the weekend. It was on the edge of Camp Pendleton North, but that was some distance away. As we later determined, the road (Christianitos) going past us ended at the gate going into the camp. Oops. Google Maps did not say that was a restricted road when it gave me directions to the post office!
We hiked down to the San Onofre State Beach by going along the Trestles Beach Trail. Parts of it go along Christianitos Road so we started halfway down to avoid the long haul back up at the end of the walk. I have no doubt the area would be beautiful and sound amazing in another month or so as the birds head south. There were a few birds but not much else now. We chose to make it a loop which meant walking quite a ways on the dry sand (!!) before we could loop back up to the bike trail and then our way back up Christianitos. Lots of surfers and pretty beach area – San Onofre State Beach.
We decided to check out the Mission at San Juan Capistrano. Wow! They have really fixed it up from the money coming in from the fame of the “Return of the Swallows!” It was much nicer than I remember from going there as a child. As we have seen with other museums around the “conquering” of California tribes, acknowledgement has been made to the original peoples and cultures of this area. SJC kept a garden of indigenous crops going, as well as a museum of some of the original cultural artifacts. There is a bit of mention of the conditions for the native peoples but it seems that this low on the trek north, tribes people were not forced to move in to the mission. They could opt out, at least in the beginning. Not sure what happened once the forced schooling began. And the decimation by disease!! As we were walking the grounds, photographers were taking wedding pictures, and then as we were leaving the awesome bells rang for about 5 minutes as another wedding ended. They still use bells, not just a digital recording.
We have discovered going to local farmer’s markets here because they are 3 or 4 days a week, somewhere. The San Clemente one was small but cute. Lots of baked breads and goodies too! We are truly enjoying being down here!