Point Vincente- December 17

After our trip north today along the coast, John said that we have covered 400 miles in the week since we have arrived in the Los Angeles area! It does seem like we have to drive a distance to get any where in this town. No surprise there, this being the second largest city in the United States. We try to avoid the busiest times of the day,but still we frequently do get caught in traffic tie-ups. That has not bothered me very much so far, as I find the city(shops,people and crazy drivers)very entertaining. It certainly is a different world out here! We had not spent much time along the coastal areas since we have arrived here, so that is where we headed today. On our way to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, we stopped at the Wayfarers Chapel. It can either be thought of as a glass church or a "tree chapel". Chapel architect Lloyd Wright(son of Frank Lloyd Wright) had been inspired by the majesty of the redwoods in northern California when he designed this small church. It is a beautiful,peaceful place. I have a picture of its altar here. This church belongs to the Swedenborgian Church. Johnny Appleseed was one of its first missionaries; with his apple tree seedlings, he also passed out religious tracts. As we came closer to Point Vincente we saw a sign cautioning us that we were entering an area of "constant land movement". We later found out in the visitor's center that this coastal area is the largest land slide area in North America. Before setting out to walk the trails along the cliffs overlooking the ocean,we noticed about six people scanning the ocean with binoculars. We learned that they were census takers of the gray whale which come into this coastal area from late December until May. They spotted the blows of a couple of the whales while we were there. We enjoyed our walk, which afforded us some very awesome ocean vistas. I am headed out of town tomorrow (John is staying behind with the cat), so there will probably be no postings here for about a week.