Travel times

We visited Jacek and Celia again this year on Memorial's Day weekend. Mulberry trees, beach and hiking were in the plans.

Jackson and Norah were excited to get on the airplane again. Jackson said: we haven't be on the airplane forever! It was just two months ago we were in Costa Rica. He talks like his mommy now. :-)

We flew to the Hollywood/Burbank airport. It is slightly closer to Westlake Village than LAX. Last time the wait to get rental car and the traffic to LAX scared us. Burbank airport was much smoother. Rental car locates on site and traffic was less. We arrived Jacek's house around 3pm California time. 

We went to say hello to our old friend - the mulberry tree! It's just in season. Branches were heavy from the fruits; many fruits were turned purple. After last year we discovered mulberry tree in LA, we started to notice the mulberry trees around our own neighborhood. Now a mulberry snack during our walk or biking trip is a staple. Mulberries in Dallas are smaller than the one in Jacek's neighborhood but taste very sweet nevertheless. 

The next day we went to hike in the hills next to Kate and Jacob's school. Those hills were torched by fire last year. We saw the charred branches dotted the slopes. This spring came one of the biggest blooms. We walked in fields of yellow flowers, extending to where our eyes met the horizon. I recognized those flowers as rapeseed flowers. It's a valued crop in my hometown. Every spring the fields in Qidong were turned into thick yellow carpets. It was used to make cooking oil. Jacek said those would be turned into fuel coming fall when the wind blows. 

We hiked with four little kids. Jackson lead the line as always. Butterflies were everywhere. It was on the path for the butterfly migration. Celia said we were late for a couple of weeks. There were so many of them early this month and caterpillars were all over the path. We hiked to a new playground and kids loved the destination.

After nap, we went to Zuma beach. Water is very cold but all kids jumped in the waves and got soaking wet. A huge seaweed plant got washed up ashore. The root was filled was sea creatures. A passby explained to us the brittle stars using the root as their habitat. And we could find more sealife there if we look harder. Jackson found a few sea urchins there. We found lots of tar on this beach. Celia was annoyed by it but we didn’t know how bad it was until later. Those tar got on our feet and stuck. They were really hard to clean. Celia had to bring us some olive oil to break the tar on our skin. I later searched that there was an oil spill in Santa Barbara County and those oil got weathered and watched up the beaches along LA county.

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Sunday we went to Ventura Pier. There was a coastal hike that strollers could work. The normal parking spots were all gone because of the Mountains to Sea marathon. The quiet town was booming with runners and onlookers. The kids spent time on a big sand hill. Jackson and I combed the tidal pools. There was nothing in those tidal pools. I was at least hoping for some crabs and sea stars. Before we leave our hike, Norah rolled in the sand and refused to leave the beach. We had lunch on the pier. Both kids fell asleep as soon they were on the car. They behaved so well over lunch since they were exhausted. We drove to Santa Barbara to have a longer drive back. This was my second visit to SB and it was indeed a charming city as its reputation. We stopped by the Ferrari dealership near Jacek’s house. Jackson started this new obsession about Ferrari. Those were beautiful cars.

Monday we went to Malibu Creek State Park for a hike. It was a popular rock climbing destination. Kids enjoyed bouldering near the creek. Those big rocks have natural foot and hand holds on them. Jacek and Celia warmed up the pool and we all fit in their hot tub after the kids nap.   

Tuesday our flight was at 2pm. We stopped at Griffith park and ride the miniature train there. Another memorable trip in the bags!