Manhattan Beach – last day, CA

Last night we watched the last of the six Star Wars movies. Amidst great concern for the future of the Republic now that Anakin Skywalker had turned to the dark side to become Darth Vader, there was also joy that the newly born twins, Luke and Leia, had been carefully hidden in the safety of loving families - away from the watching eyes of a growing evil Empire. And so ended (or just begun) the Star Wars movie adventure that has been delighting us every few nights of our stay in Los Angeles. For the past few months “Star Wars” has been an occasional topic of conversation -- on our hikes, or around the campsite, or while driving. The girls were fascinated to hear the fantastical story of a young Jedi Warrior, Luke Skywalker, and his ancient Master, Yoda, as well as the wise Obi Kenobi and the ever-loyal droids, R2D2 and C3PO. Rose was readily able to draw storyline parallels between her first literary love, “Harry Potter”, and that of "Star Wars". Ruth was enchanted by the myriad of strange creatures, droids and distant planets and the idea of being able to “use the force”. For Doug and Denise it was a chance to re-visit the movies that marked a generation growing up in the late 70’s and early 80’s. It seemed appropriate that we’d be in Los Angeles – the land of Hollywood - to finally see all six of the Star Wars movies at one time. We expect that there will be the occasional Light Saber moment in the days ahead as we continue our journey today, heading to Sequoia National Park for a few nights then hopefully onto Yosemite National Park for a few more nights before heading to another family visit this time in Incline Village, Nevada. A big part of our Los Angeles stay has been centered on family. We attended a graduation for a nephew as he completed his Ph.D. – that included a wonderful gathering of extended family and friends. We took bike rides along the beach front, including to the marina to see a young Grey Whale lolling in the shallow waters of the marina harbor. Denise and her sister Karen organized cards and mailings for the upcoming family event in Hawaii. The girls got to hang out (a little) with their cousin, Michael, as he moved home from college for summer and went out surfing most mornings. The notorious California “June Gloom”, typified by cooler overcast days, has been a welcome relief from months of blasting desert sun that we’ve traveled through. When the sun did break through most afternoons then cooling sea breezes would keep the heat and humidity in check. It has been great to be near the beach and the water once again though we are looking forward to heading into the mountains for the next few weeks before returning home to Seattle.