All of the literature makes a big deal about California State Parks now being teamed up with AT&T to bring WiFi to their campgrounds. Well, this is park #5 on the WiFi list and finally we have internet access. Woohoo!! It's not completely reliable and it's certainly not high-speed, but it's working! Yaaay!
No, nobody's sick, but we had to try the drive-through pharmacy.
Palm Springs was nice. Especially after the nasty surprise of snow in the mountains close by. We've been in the desert so long that our eyes are starving for colour and Palm Springs provided lots of that. Unfortunately, I was so busy drinking in the lush lawns and palm trees that I forgot to take pictures. This is the best I can do.
We stayed a few days at Lake Perris. We loved it because not only was it GREEN, but it was also pretty much deserted. It was like living on our own private golf course.
But as nice as it was, it didn't have the advertised internet and we were ready to see the ocean. This was our first taste of the Pacific - Doheny Beach.California is proving to be not particularly dog-friendly. Taz isn't allowed on any of the hiking trails or beaches. She isn't allowed to stay in the vehicle by herself either, so whaddya supposed to do? We've managed to find some quiet unpopulated areas and our heads are on a swivel looking for rangers.
Really, these paw prints could belong to any dog...
Shhh, don't tell.
These pictures looked great on the camera display, but they're looking kinda washed out on the laptop. Hopefully, they look better on your screen.
Map-guy is looking for our next destination. Doheny Beach was okay, but not great. Besides, there was no internet.
While he was reading maps, I discovered that we were close enough to spy on the residents of an apartment building across the way. Oh, come on - you would've done the same... 
Nothing very exciting to report, but one guy was definitely looking at a girlie magazine. Or does Newsweek or Time have a drop-down centerfold?
The beach towns along the coast all have their own distinct characteristics. Laguna Beach is very up-scale. I've never seen so many Rolls Royces, Jaguars, Porsches and Bentleys before.
This is Newport Beach. We went there specifically to take a picture of the fire-pit that spawned our fire-pit. Lesley, do you remember waiting for the boat to Catalina Island? We sat on a wall at the end of the promenade and on the other side of the wall there was a sunken fire pit in the backyard of the condo. I took a picture to take home to show Dan to see if we could maybe do something like that in our yard. Guess what? We found the wall, but the backyard is under construction and the cool fire-pit is gone.
Oh well, I think ours turned out better than theirs anyway.
The board walk at Newport is kind of fun. Amusement rides, lots of shops and restaurants and the ferry over to Balboa.
Marina Del Rey was a bit disappointing. The place was dead. None of the shops and only a couple of the restaurants were open. Cute place though.
A couple of the residents:
Santa Monica is very family oriented. The pier has amusement rides and there are lots of buskers and stalls selling miniature California license plates with names on them.
This guy had an amazing voice.
This guy was pretty good too.
Taz enjoyed it too.
Until she spotted the ferris wheel. Very scary!!!
Venice Beach had kind of a seedy, spring-break vibe to it.
It was fun though
This guy drew a huge crowd.
Taz meets a Geordie look-alike.
Mugu Point park had a handy underpass to get to the beach from the campground.
Taz was actually allowed on this part of the beach
