Social Distance Road Trip: An Escape to the Beach in Malibu

The hope this year was a return visit to Hawai'i, and we probably would have been heading there this weekend. But then, alas, COVID got in the way. So instead, we drove to Malibu and found a less crowded part of the beach to enjoy the outdoors. The water was cold, alas, so it's definitely not Hawai'i. But the Blogger Kid 2.0 and I still waded in it for quite a while. And both kids (above and below) had fun chasing the waves and making various sand creations.

The big highlight, however, was the dolphins. We saw an entire school of them, and they put on a show for us — leaping out of the water, swimming through waves, going back and forth. Definitely made the $15 parking worth the price of admission. It was hard to capture the dolphins in photos, but you may see a few in the ones below.

A Windy, Firey, Devastating Sunday

Can't say any of us were surprised, once we heard that the Santa Ana winds would make a fierce appearance this weekend, that the fires would follow. But it's still frightening to see how fast things can get out of hand. (Check out L.A. Times coverage here.

Above, the view of the sky Sunday afternoon from Maria's mom's home in West Hills. We watched as the sky over Simi Valley turned a burnt orange... making for a bizarre, mid-day sky.



Strangely enough, at Franklin Avenue HQ in Glendale, there hasn't been any abnormal windy conditions. But drive deep (and west) into the Valley, and it feels like hurricane territory. It was those brutal winds that hit more than one large tree in West Hills; this is one (above) that completely blocked a housing division entrance off Roscoe.



And look at those roots! How the wind has the power to tear all this down is astounding.



Several stations went wall-to-wall with coverage on Sunday. My favorite moment had to be on KABC/Channel 7 Sunday morning. A reporter on the scene in Malibu was completely decked out: Yellow, fire resistant jumpsuit, breathing mask and goggles. Yet everyone she spoke to (like this guy, whose car was burnt to a crisp by the fire) was wearing their normal clothes, simply walking down the street.