A living movie town - Southwest USA 2018 - 15
Thursday, 2018-05-10 - A living movie town
This is the last full day of my vacation. As I decided not to visit Joshua Tree NP, my agenda is slim today and so I go for a slow start and leave the motel at 8 am.
Even if I skip Joshua Tree I still drive in that direction. This is for sure a detour but I want to visit Pioneertown near the border of the park. Pioneertown is an old movie set from the 40s, but the buildings are used for shops or the post office today. On weekends they have the usual gunfighter shows and even a theatre. But today I'm, together with three other guys, the only one visiting. I park directly at the post-office, but it turns out that the official parking is a little bit further down the road. No problem, I'll walk the sandy street anyhow and if I start here or there doesn't matter. As the houses are in use, everything is maintained, but in a nice way to not disturb the old appearance. Near the official parking, they even have a motel. Would be nice to stay here for a night.
After the visit, I start my way towards Laguna Beach. The traffic starts easy, but the nearer I come to the Pacific the worse it gets. Even it's around noon, more than once it's just stop-and-go.
I reach the hotel at 2 pm and since a mile or so the sky is covered with thick clouds. Slowly, very slowly, you can see patches of blue in between, but it will take until 6 pm before the sun comes through the clouds.
I check-in, drink a coffee and decide to walk around a bit. Lots of art galleries are on the main street (in fact it's the Coast Highway), but not a single customer in any of them. In exchange for the skipped walks this morning I now go to Victoria Beach. It's around 1,5 miles one-way, but I have to walk along this Highway. Unfortunately, there is no way to walk along the beach, especially as the high tide is approaching.
Finally, I turn into Victoria Drive and climb down the stairs to the beach. The place I want to go to is called Pirate Tower or sometimes Rapunzel Tower. I'm just in time to reach a spot from where I can take the pictures, a little bit later and the tide would have blocked the way.
On my way back, the clouds are slowly disappearing. On the horizon they are still dense, so the chances to get a nice sunset are limited, but you never know. I take a brief look at the beach access near my hotel and think that I should give it a try.
So, I take a shower and go for an early dinner. Then back to the hotel, picking up the tripod and camera and back to the beach.
The tide is at its maximum and there is no chance to go to the beach without getting really wet. But at the end of the stairs down to the beach is a little plateau where I can place my tripod. The sunset is nothing to talk about, but the high tide is splashing the water nicely over some rocks and so I decide to go for some long exposure shots instead.
