We camped Friday night. It got pretty cold at night... Down to 40. Thankfully I have everything I own in my car so we put on multiple layers of everything. We looked like we were ready to go sledding, but at least it kept us warm.
Saturday morning we woke up, decided to stay another night at Caspers Park (we realized all of the other camping would be full on a sat night), and then spent a while talking to our camp neighbor Joshua before we left... He taught us the word gnarly, for situations that are difficult & tough. He told us all about how San Juan has developed over the last 20 year. He showed us the mistletoe that is choking out trees, the woodpeckers attacking the trunks, and shared with us a little about his life... He grew up in San Juan, lived in Germany for the last four months & now just moved back to Cali & is figuring out what job to pursue... He is camping wherever & living in friends houses from time to time. He was the nicest guy ever. We could have stayed & talked to him much longer, but it was already 11 am and we were starving for breakfast.
We went to RJs Cafe, right off of pacific coast highway & met the nicest waitress ever. Monica grew up in Dearborn, MI & has lived in Cali ever since. She told us more things about Southern California & wrote our directions to San onofre state park , and insisted we had to camp in the San Mateo loop. After we ate, we went for a walk, and tried to have a beach day. It was slightly cloudy, and probably only 60 degrees. We have up on catching rays & grabbed our running shoes instead.
We ran south along the beach, towards San Clemente. It was absolutely breathtaking. It should be a "rave run" for runners world. It probably is. As the run progressed, we found ourselves almost getting wet from the waves, and running through huge rocks, feeling like we were going to sprain an ankle. After 45 minutes we wanted to take the path back to Dana Point. But at this area, we were in the backyards of mansions! There was no getting out. We could have turned around & went back the way we came but it felt really bad to think you were going to twist your ankle every step. So we kept going & eventually climbed over some train tracks and a small fence to get to a bike path.
On our way back to Dana point harbor, we met a dad with 7 kids & one on the way who also had a 3 legged labrodoodle (spelling?). Who in southern california has 8 kids and has money to raise all of them???! We also talked to surfers for a while at their car... Two young guys from mi, and one middle aged guy. We previously had talked to another surfer for awhile, who have us tips on surfing, told us about the best restaurants in the are & said we had to go check out an open market 15 miles north. Super nice people. No one seems to have an agenda at the beach... People just mill around, are so easy to talk to, and friendly.
The VWs are everywhere. So awesome
The sunset that night was incredible. The best one yet.
After the sunset, we ran a couple of errands, looking for a warm blanket, skewers, a lighter & some camping food. We stayed up really late, just talking... Eventually we went to bed. It wasn't too cold, as long as you don't have anything exposed. If part of your hand or foot or nose get out from the covers you kind of want to die. But otherwise it was fine.
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