MAR 14, 17 .. AND ?? CACTUS TREES ??

Oh no Captain! Are we going to see a lot of Cactus Tree photos? I am afraid you are!

Here we go loop de loop .. Here we go loop de li .. 

Will someone reading along here (Yo Gullible) tell Patti and me what these are? 

Are they .. Taa-Daa .. Cactus Trees?

As the two of us drove from Victorville to Lompoc California on Tuesday the 28th of February, and as we returned from Lompoc headed for Barstow Calfornia last Friday the 10th of March, West of Victorville on California Highway 18, we encountered a small forest of these, for lack of a better word.. 

Cactus Trees!

Yo Cactus Trees!

Attention Cactus Trees!

There you are!

If you look closely, you will see they are producing a fruit or a flower of some sort. It is Springtime of the year.

It is a vast understatement to say that Patti and I were utterly fascinated by this, new-to-us, form of cacti.  

Smiles and Hugs .. Cap and Patti

Late Breaking News .. They are Joshua Trees .. See comments below. Big Smiles .. 

MAR 10, 17 .. SUNSET IN BARSTOW CALIFORNIA

Patti and I pulled out of Lompoc California today at 12-noon and drove to Barstow California in California's high desert. 

We came the 'Zilla way (across the North side of the Mountains that encircle Los Angeles) that I detailed in my last Post. At the bottom of this short Post I will give you a link to click onto if you want to refresh your memories. 

This evening, after we checked into our motel room, Patti and I were exploring the Barstow Library, suddenly Patti said ..

"Just look at the sunset!"

The sun was setting and thus creating differing exposures on these photos. Five minutes later and we would have missed all of it.

 

We hope you liked the sunset in Barstow and California's High Desert.

Smiles .. Cap and Hugs .. Patti

Today's drive was 251-miles. It took us right at 6-hours with several stops-en-route to relax. 

Our route was : Lompoc South to Santa Barbara then to Ventura. Then East from Ventura to Santa Clarita to Palmdale to Victorville. Finally the last 30-mile leg North on I-15 to Barstow.

Just in case you want to see the maps I posted of the route from Victorville to Lompoc, just click onto the below link.

http://babakaps.net/?p=24283

MAR 5, 17 .. JALAMA BEACH COUNTY PARK NEAR LOMPOC

Yesterday, Saturday the 4th of March, Patti and I celebrated my son David's upcoming birthday by spending the day together. 

Just in case any of you reading along here are interested, at the bottom of this Post, I will provide you with a link that you can 'click onto' that will show three maps detailing the location of Jalama Beach Park, here in Coastal Central California, South of Lompoc.

Jalama is pronounced with the Spanish 'J' as Halama. Lompoc is pronounced Lompoke.

Talk about a nice day for the three of us, have a look-see below.

For some very odd reason, I have had issues with the spelling of the name of the beach! In this Post I began incorrectly spelling it .. Jamala Beach. Then I doubled-checked and sure enough, it was incorrect.

A visit to Jalama Beach (Santa Barbara County) Park was on David's to-do-someday list but he had not yet visited the park.

So you can clearly see the correct spelling of Jalama Beach Park, we will start off with photos at the entry to the park.

I could go-in-order with my photographs or I could show you the beach and then back-track to the more mundane sights of the mini-beach Park with a lot of campers and motor homes and Californians and a small store etc-et-al.

I have decided we will go ..

Right out to, and then onto, THE BEACH !!

 Below is a photo of one very happy lady!

Our one very happy lady loves to send sand-greetings to friends.

One immensely joyous and very happy beach lady!

These small birds, out looking for fresh seafood on the beach, just fascinated the two of us.

I could have shot hundreds of photos but, for this visit to Jalama Beach, there you have the beach photos.

Now back to the beginning, the entrance into the Park.

Is it true the best things in life are free? That is what the saying says! The Best Things In Life Are Free!

Well, Santa Barbara County does not quite agree. There are, after all, maintenance and other costs associated with public parks.

We paid an entry fee of $10 US Dollars for our truck and the three of us. In the background of the below entry station, you can see some of the busy-ness of the Jalama Beach County Park.

By the way, at the extreme left of the above photo, you can see our black truck.

Here we go with some of the busy-ness at the Park.

Looking at the other side of the park entrance station.

Notice the cabins for rent in the background. We did not price their rental cost but the waiting list can run about 6-months into the future.

 "Well Dad! This is our home too!" /s/ Resident Roof Sea Gulls.

This gives you a feeling for the size of the park rental spaces. It was full up no vacancies during our visit.

Below you see The Jalama Beach Store.

The photo below shows just a sample of the busy-ness of the camping area.

Turn to your left 90-degrees from the above photo and below is what you see.

All good things come to an end and so too did our visit to Jalama Beach Park.

One last parting look down upon the park.

But .. 

Some of the best was yet to come. The road into the park is 14-miles in length and the scenery was just wonderful.

Several very VERY nice photos of we two snapped by my son David.

And ??

We three topped-off-our-day with dinner at Anderson's in Buellton California.

The time has come to head home to Lompoc.

 One wonderful day.

Truly, we are so very blessed.

Patti and Cap

Below is the link that I promised to provide showing three maps detailing the park's location.

babakaps.net/?p=24331