We’ve been friends with Harry and Karen since early in our CT days, when they lived in NY. Our shared history is well explained in this post from 2017, when we visited Harry and Karen at their current home in Boise, but here is a summary: Along with friends Pat and Geoff, we all used to do a fair amount of mountain biking and off-road tandem riding around the northeast, and for a number of years (right up until Sue and I started transitioning to Vermonters) we enjoyed a series of ski trips out west together. Visits slowed down once priorities changed (careers for us, and add raising families for the them). Now, well into retirement (us) or recently retired (them) and all the kids now grown, who knows what might happen next?
When we learned that Harry and Karen were going to be visiting their grandkids (yes, grandkids!) near Los Angeles in October, we started tracking each other’s schedules to see if we could arrange to cross paths. Our friends would be in Simi Valley visiting eldest son David and his wife Mikaela, 2-year-old grandson Hayes and 3-week old granddaughter Hana (who was not even around yet during the planning stages) soon after we were to be leaving Colorado. Younger son Chris and his partner were coming out from NYC for the weekend. With persistence and everyone’s kind cooperation and flexibility, we were fortunate and quite pleased that during Harry and Karen’s busy stay, amidst their unpredictable schedule, we found a whole day to visit and play!
Recently retired and with a hankering for adventure travel, Harry and Karen have been working on their own custom conversion van (they politely claim to have been inspired at least in part by our travels). Starting with a naked Dodge Ram ProMaster van, they’ve added a bed with a huge storage area underneath, an efficient kitchen, dry-flush toilet, and other necessary life-support systems (rooftop HVAC, fresh-water storage and plumbing, water heater, and a 5000-watt state-of-the-art battery storage and charging system that has me both green with envy and hard at work figuring out how I might adapt something like that for our aging truck). A fully functional vehicle, and still a work-in-progress, they take trips in their yet-to-be-named rig while planning the next upgrade or modification. The conversion already includes places for pups Moose and Mandy.
Navigating a vehicle like ours in the neighborhood where David and family live is challenging, and parking is virtually impossible, so we made plans to meet up in Malibu. There is a great state park there, right near the beach, with a few hiking trails and plenty of parking. (Harry grew up in nearby Hermosa Beach so was familiar with the place, and Karen had lived in the area as well.) The park had a handful of open camping spots, so we grabbed one of those and Harry and Karen came out to meet us there. After some time getting caught up with comings and goings over the past 8 years, we planned out our day. There’s a dog beach at Malibu, so we started with a walk over to the beach with mountain dogs Moose and Mandy. It was their first time seeing and feeling the ocean! Moose seemed to love the waves, even after getting rolled over a couple of times. At 15, Mandy was a bit more reserved though she seemed to enjoy the feel of a little cold water around her ankles, followed by a nap.
With the tired dogs dried off and safely back at camp, the humans went for a hike up the little mountain overlooking the campground. As mountains go, this isn’t a huge one, but there was plenty of altitude for our legs, taking us to a height of land above the shoreline with amazing views to the west and south over the Pacific Ocean, and south all the way to Rancho Palos Verdes. We went out for dinner at a beach restaurant called The Sunset on Zuma Beach in Malibu. Wow on the dinner and double wow on the unobstructed view of the sunset from The Sunset!
We wrapped up the day with a mini-campfire in a portable mini firepit Harry brought out (hmm…) while continuing our reminiscences and brainstorming plans for ski trips and other potential future rendezvous. Looking forward to it!
For more Malibu pix, click here.
