Pacific Coast, LA Style

I woke up this morning excited to go to the beach!

We left right away for Manhattan Beach. Using an app called Bring Fido, I can find dog-friendly accommodations, parks and restaurants in any city I visit. I can also find vets and dog-related events. But since I'm not in need of a vet and don't attend 'events' and I'm loyal to my one dog friendly Motel 6, I only use the app to find restaurants and parks.

This morning I found a place called Java Man in the heart of Hermosa Beach. In fact, there was a lot of dog-friendly places listed in Hermosa Beach. It seems to be a dog-loving city. So I had a nice coffee and a breakfast burrito at the outdoor seating area. We sat near two other dogs, and during the 30 to 40 minutes I sat there, probably ten dogs walked by.

After breakfast, we were headed to Long Beach, only half an hour away. There was a place called Rosie's Dog Beach that sounded really cool and I wanted to check it out. But, it turns out there was a marathon in Long Beach today and there was also a Hollywood film being shot in the area, so I was frustrated by Street Closed signs all along the waterfront. After a while, I gave up on the dog beach idea and was going to head back to Manhattan Beach or Hermosa Beach where there were lots of dog activities.

On the way out of town, I noticed a big park with a body of water in it. I also saw a parking spot on the street, which was not something I had seen in Long Beach until this moment. So I grabbed it. It was a few blocks walk to this park, but it was worth it. I had happened upon Colorado Lagoon. I'm not sure what it is, but we had a great time running in the sand, playing in the water and walking over the bridge to the other side of the lagoon. It was mostly empty except for some kids playing and screaming way over on the other end of the park, so River and I were free to run with abandon.

...we also played 'Captain River' in this boat

When we were done at the lagoon, we connected with some local friends and met back in Hermosa Beach. Jim and Judy and their son Luke wanted to show me around the area, as Judy grew up in the area and knew of some nice spots that I might not have otherwise seen.

But first, I was hungry so we met at a Burger place that was listed on Bring Fido as being dog friendly, which they were. I had a green chili burger with avocado. That's when I knew I was back in California.

We all drove to Palos Verdes, which I had always heard about but never made it to. I guess, since it's about a 40 minute drive from the nearest freeway, Los Angelinos consider it a no-mans-land and never go there. But we saw some incredible cliffs and rocky beaches. We hiked on bright orange dirt and found many interesting rocks. The views and the sights were breathtaking and it didn't seem like we were still in Los Angeles.

We hung out at a few different locations but stayed near the cliffs almost until the sun went down. As we drove away, to go get some dinner, we watched the orange sun in a pink sky disappearing over the water.

In keeping with the good old California cuisine theme, we stopped and had some good, authentic Mexican food. River sat at our feet and happily ate the rice and chicken we dropped for him.

It was great to see my friends again, and to learn about a whole section of LA that I had never given much attention to.

Back in the motel room, I had to give River another bath. He has proven that he is not averse to water, but for some reason, he's not thrilled with bath time. But I wasn't sure about the quality of the water in the Colorado Lagoon. It was sort of green, so I didn't want to take any chances.

I  noticed when we were in the car going from the cliffs to the restaurant that he was licking his foot, and then he did the skull chattering that he does when he tastes blood.  I looked and felt in the spot he was liking, but I couldn't see or feel any blood.  I was worried that maybe he had injured his leg again, although he never showed any signs of limping.

It wasn't until after his bath and after he was dry and liking the foot again, that I noticed it was kind of raw. I guess all the running in the sand and over the scrub brush and rocks kind of tore his feet up. So I'm going to rub some coconut oil on them tonight; he'll like that.