Malibu & Venice, CA
This is a continuation of previous post...
Point Mugu. It might actually be one of my favorite memories from our honeymoon. On that trip we almost reserved a spot at another campground until I saw a sign for rattlesnakes (this was the first trip of camping out west...I don't let that dictate spots anymore). From there we drove through a few more campgrounds along the highway, but none of them were giving me good vibes so we kept driving...thankfully! When we drove past Point Mugu-Thornhill Broome campground and saw tents on the actual beach, I had to stop myself from grabbing the wheel and turning us around! Truthfully, I think Tommy had to stop himself from doing a U-turn right then and there as well. This was the first time we pitched our little orange hotel directly on the beach, and it left a huge impression on my gypsy heart. Okay now fast forward five years later...and we're back!! Carpinteria to Point Mugu was less than an hour away so we decided to set up camp and spend the day in Venice. That day there was an odd fog over the ocean and when we got closer to Venice it was everywhere. We mustered through the dreadful Malibu/LA traffic and reached the boardwalk parking area by late morning. With the thick fog making everything look so gray, it really took the sparkle out of the Venice that I remembered so fondly. We walked down the boardwalk from the parking lot, and I have to be honest, without the blue skies and sunshine you really notice the smell and actual garbage that is around you. I was starting to get a little bummed so we veered off to find lunch. Once we reached the Abott Kinney area the fog was starting to burn off and my mood started rising. We saw a few iconic things that we missed the first time, and I was especially excited about finally getting to see a canal...
We grabbed lunch to-go from The Cow's End, had a picnic on the beach, and then decided to walk the Venice Pier and give the boardwalk another spin. The second time on the boardwalk was less foggy than the first, and I definitely fell back in love with it. By this point in the day, we had reached our sun exposure limit and we knew the traffic was about to get crazy (actually in LA that is an understatement) so we decided it was time to head back to Malibu.
By the time we made it back to Malibu it was time for dinner, and we knew exactly where we were eating...Neptune's Net! It's another fond stop of ours from our honeymoon, and we could not wait to grab a table. Not a thing had changed about the place, and it was every bit as wonderful as we remembered. After we ate, we ran across the highway to the cliff area overlooking the ocean and watched 30+ surfers battle it out for waves. The fog was starting to retreat back to the ocean, and we decided to head back to camp to enjoy a big fire and the sunset.
