After braving the 119 degree temps on my drive to San Diego, the ocean was a welcome relief. I decided to stay in La Jolla because it is beautiful, a short drive to the San Diego Museum of Art and most of San Diego was filled up with people visiting Comic con.
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| Sunset and surf at La Jolla Cove |
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| La Jolla Cove |
On my way up the coast the next day, I was able to join in with the Laguna Plein Air Painters for their mentor paint-out with Jeff Horn. We met in Laguna Beach just below the beautiful Montage Resort at Treasure Island Park. This gem used to be a trailer park before the Montage built an exclusive 5 star resort, but the beach is readily accessible, if you are in the know. Treasure Island Park got its name from the movie Treasure Island, filmed here in 1934. When it was still a trailer park, the movie "The Long Long Trailer" with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez was also filmed here. Along the cliffs in front of the restaurant are two looming palm trees commemorating Lucy and Dezi.
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| Key hole at Treasure Island Beach |
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| Plein Air painting |
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| Signature artist Jeff Horn doing a demo for the group |
After spending a few days in cool Cali, it was time to head home through the blazing hot desert. As I was headed home, my car veered off to the right when I saw the sign for Joshua Tree National Park. I'd never been to the Park but have applied for an Artist in Residence there, so I was anxious to check it out. Joshua trees are crazy looking trees, like something Dr Seuss would think up.
It takes a couple of hours to drive the entire length of the park. Towards the end of the drive is an area called Cholla Gardens. I'm not particularly fond of cholla as they are a nasty cactus, but seeing acres of them was pretty cool.
