Santa Monica National Recreation Area

While Mak is going to college in LA, there are many opportunities for me to knock out parks in Southern California. For LMU Family Weekend, I invited my college roommate to join the fun and meet his new friends … college roommate to college roommate style.

After a night of playing many games of Rummy Cube and drinking beverages, Annie and I adventured up to the Santa Monica National Recreation Area. After visiting, the Visitor Center, which was the most beautiful one that I’ve encountered yet, we ventured up to the Paramount Lot. Before the fires in 2019, it was full of western town structures used in many films. Unfortunately, many of them went up in the blaze. A few remained and it was fun to hike around the grounds.

NPS says this park unit is “Hidden in plain sight from Los Angeles. The Santa Monica Mountains offer easy access to surprisingly wild places. Experience the famous beaches of Malibu or explore more than 500 miles of trails. The park abounds with historical and cultural sites, from old movie ranches to Native American centers.”

And we loved discovering this quote … “When I come here, I can exhale. Here, you hear things. In the city you can’t hear anything because you can hear everything. In the city, everything is obvious,. Here you get closer and see more.”

And, as I was organizing photos, I realized that I visited this NPS Unit in August 2021 when Lori and I rode horses here. Such a special memory and I want to ride horses as much as possible when exploring in nature.