My parents have been divorced since shortly after I was born, my family structure has only gotten more complicated since then, but for the purpose of this story all that needs to be said is that my father’s side of the family are all living in southern California. When I found out that a conference I was attending for work was less than a half hour from my family I jumped on the opportunity to spend some time with them and to stay at the beautiful Terranea resort in Palos Verdes.
Unfortunately the conference didn’t allow for much time to wander around the property but I did sneak away during the second day to take some photographs of the plants and coastline.
The cacti were quite tempting to photograph as we don’t have anything like them in the northeast, at least not the kind growing naturally outdoors.
There were also many birds of paradise planted around the resort. I love the simple elegance of this flower and vibrant colors in the petals.
The resort also had some gorgeous orchids potted near our conference rooms.
Waking up on Day 3, I found the sun rising over the Pacific Ocean. This confused me at first because I know as an east coaster that this is not supposed to happen in California. Everyone knows the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but Terranea has 180 degree views of the ocean, and my room had the perfect placement for this view.
Since the third day of the conference was only a half day, when my sister came to pick me up we took the full advantage of the first sunny day of my trip and went exploring.
The rest of my trip was spent in Hermosa Beach, where my sister lives. We walked down to the water one of the days and spent some time by the ocean.
I loved the touching silhouette made by this father and child playing in the surf.
Chalk “graffiti” speaks the truth. Art Can’t Hurt You.
After family time, working, relaxing and socializing in SoCal it was almost time for me to head back to the Northeast to deal with an unexpected and unwelcome snowstorm that dumped 10 inches of snow on my town.
The rest of my pictures from this trip can be found in the gallery.
