Yosh and i have known each other for 7 years. We've been together for 5 of those years. I knew the first day i met her that i wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. It wasn't until recently i knew her parents were coming to America and i could ask them for their blessing. My goal was to propose this year on our 5 year anniversary July 4th, which happens to be Independence day. After the blessing was granted it was game on.
I knew that i didn't want to do the standard fancy restaurant proposal with a ring in the champagne. I wanted to do something that suited us and what we love to do. After all, this was about us, and no one else. I started searching for places to camp along the coast. It's always been so nice and romantic but always so hard to get into. Being so late in the year, i knew everything was booked. So i logged onto craigslist for a final twist of faith. I knew that sometimes i'd seen people put up for sale their reservations for the coastal campgrounds because they were in such demand. Usually these are just people that can't make it and don't want to waste the reservations.
Well i got extremely lucky and found reservations for Leo Carrillo SP for July 4th and 5th. Leo Carrillo is named after a famous actor and there's been many movies filmed at this location, like Grease, Karate kid and others. I was stoked. When i told Yosh, she said that sounded great without any hesitation. Little did she know i was going to pop the big question.
After heading out in the triple digit heat of the inland area , we headed across wonderful downtown LA and into Santa Monica. It was total chaos. People everywhere. But we expected that. This time wasn't going to be remote.. it was going to special and near the ocean with other people. Quickly heading through town and up PCH, we kept our pace through the tourists that seemed like they were driving slower than molasses. I used them as a cone and passed them on the left and right the whole way. Arriving at the campground around 2pm, we had plenty of time to head to the beach. Im still trying to figure out why the check-in time is so late.
"Roughing it" - Our camp on pavement (not typically how we camp)
Up the hill from our parking area was a fire ring and a picnic table. It was actually kind of nice because we could pretend we were away from everyone, since we couldn't see them.
After setting up camp, we headed for the beach. It was about a 15 minute walk.
This is one of only a few dog friendly beaches in CA. This was Dixie's first time at the beach and in the water.
A wave snuck up on her and she didn't care for it all that much. This was the one and only time i had her in the water. After that she ran from the water and never let us get her too close.
It's a beautiful beach. We actually saw dolphins and sea lions in the distance. Too bad i forgot the long lens.
Dixie not having anything to do with the water.. again..
After running around like a nut, Dixie was ready to relax.
I swear i think she thinks we go on these trips just for her. She's so spoiled.
After being at the beach for a few hours, getting sun burned a bit, and thirsty for a cold beer....we headed back.
At this point i decided over dinner i'd propose. I fired up the BBQ and grilled up some filet mignons while Yosh made a side. There were just too many people down at the beach for me to propose in front of. I would have turned into a nervous wreck. So needless to say i did it in private at our camp. She thought i was joking at first... then she realized what i was doing and said yes.
Here i am on one knee looking silly because i set the timer on the camera and she didn't know. Kind of hard to go back and say "wait i'm going to propose, can you look at the camera for me?" She just happened to be looking at Dixie at the time the camera snapped the photo.
A happy girl after dinner sitting next to the fire.
The moon was so bright, it was almost a full moon. Remember this photo was taken while DARK with the naked eye.
We could see our moon shadow. It was epic. I shot this photo down at the beach while we watched fireworks.
Apparently Danny Devito rents a barge for the weekend and has a crew light fireworks off of it. The fireworks were too far for the standard lens to see, but we did have a prime spot to watch. Kind of felt like David Hasselhoff, im not going to lie.
We headed back to camp after getting bored with the fireworks. I mean they were a good 20 miles down the coast. One thing that was nice, Dixie didn't have to get scared by all the Kaboomb!
Once back at camp i re-started the fire pit and burned the rest of the wood we brought.
In the morning we took our time since check out was noon and we knew it was hotter than heck at home still. Yosh made sausage, bacon and eggs. We really wanted to load up and pack it out and head over to the beach for the rest of the day, but i was sun burned on my shoulders pretty good. I also only brought one cut off shirt since we were close to home and i didn't have anyway to cover my arms. So we enjoyed the coast.
We headed up to the Pt Mugu area. Such a beautiful place with so many great views of the ocean.
The bird and Dixie have the same hair colors. Dixie however wanted to eat the seagulls.
There are some beautiful rock cuts in the coast around this area.
Shot of how massive Mugu Rock is.
One of them you might actually recognize from many car commercials. Look familiar?
Down the road is a small patch of dunes that you can climb on foot. Pretty amazing.
We headed back down through Malibu and Santa Monica.. then unfortunately we had to head home and back to reality. The heat and the location were not as nice as the coast.. but we had one thing we brought back with us.. a plan for marriage. I now have a fiancee and she's wearing my ring. This will truly be a trip i'll cherish for years and years. It will never be forgotten.. i think we'll be 80 years old and think back about how nice this trip was and how young we were.
Here's to many many more years of adventure!!