After we left Sequoia National Park, we drove to the Los Angeles area and stayed in a hotel in Agoura Hills. The next morning, we drove to El Matador State Park. It was cloudy and slightly foggy but we enjoyed our time at the beach.
We really enjoyed watching the pelicans who would take off in a formation flying just above the breaking waves looking for some vulnerable fish. We didn't actually see them catch one but maybe they don't need to eat very many.
The tide was coming in when we were there and we could tell that there would be no beach at all when it reached high tide. At one point we made the mistake of leaving Camille's lunch unattended and the seagulls promptly pulled out her sandwich and ate it, leaving behind the pickles.
Mindy was there too but kept her distance from the water. After about 2 hours, we drove down the road a little ways to the Malibu beach which is more of a swimming/surfing beach. We didn't actually swim but enjoyed sitting and walking on the beach. We saw some dolphins towards the end but it was pretty difficult to get a picture of them.
In the afternoon, we drove to the Los Angeles Temple Visitors' Center and spent some time there, went to "Apple Pan" which was a reasonably-priced hamburger place that also served pie. Camille had pecan pie for dessert while the rest of us abstained. Then Scott and I did an endowment session while Camille did baptisms and Mindy parked at the Visitors' Center because she thought her recommend had expired (it actually hadn't). The LA temple is huge with very friendly workers. And very, very tall palm trees.
Our last day was our Universal Studios day that Camille requested for her high school graduation. We got there right at opening and stayed there until 6pm, leaving an hour before they closed. We started out with a studio tour which ended up being frightening for the girls since they reenacted part of a scene from Psycho. But it was otherwise interesting to see the sets they have used in the past for many different movies.
We went on a majority of the rides. Camille and Mindy went on the Nintendo World ride while we waited in a long line and then went on the Jurassic World ride. Nintendo World felt like severe sensory overload with sights and sounds everywhere. Everywhere you go in the park, there is movie theme music playing and it's easy to feel quite overwhelmed by it all.
You can meet characters from various movies so Mindy met Shrek and his wife. Camille declined.
Camille really wanted to go on the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride so we all did that. Scott and I got off feeling a little sick to our stomachs but Camille thought it was amazing.
We left at 6pm and drove out to Barstow, stopping for some food in Victorville. Barstow was a scary town and I cannot recommend staying overnight there. I seriously worried that our car wouldn't be in the parking lot the next morning. But it was! So after a very short dip in the pool by Scott, we got on the road and got a picture of this very important exit: the only word that rhymes with physics.
.HEIC)
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