Recently, I had an opportunity to take a solo adventure in Southern California’s beautiful coastal area of Orange County. It’s been over 30 years since I spent some quality travel time on my own.
I challenged myself to bring my GoPro Hero 7 Black and other video equipment and shoot some Roaming With Rosie episodes about my adventures. This meant not only visiting these places alone, but walk around talking to my camera, in public! Although for some reason I have no problem delivering a speech in front of a large audience, it’s this type of thing that causes me fear. At the beginning, I was uneasy speaking loud enough to even record myself due to not wanting to warrant public attention. LOL But I got over it.
Having grown up in the area, I thought I was a pretty good authority and planned to share with our followers my own “expert” advice! But I found some amazing hidden gems that I never knew about and they were completely FREE and totally worthy of a DO NOT MISS rating during a visit to the area!
First on my list was a real hidden treasure, fondly known as “The Pirate Tower”. This architectural wonder is right on one of Laguna’s most stunning beaches, Victoria Beach. It was a little hard to find, but with some false starts, and effort, I struck gold! Here is a link to my Treasure Map (map & more information)!
In 1926, La Tour (French for Tower) was built along with the beautiful home above on the cliff as the way for the owners to get to the beach below. The 60 foot staircase is encased within the castle like tower which was inspired by chateaus and castles of France during WWI. It is awe inspiring. Although the gilded entry door is locked, you can walk all around it and get a peak at the staircase inside.
The surrounding beach is mostly a shelf of craggy rock and spectacular for tide pool adventures. To get a close up view of the tower and wander the tide pools, be sure to check the Tide Predictions HERE. You’ll want to give yourself enough time to get down there from parking on the coast highway to enjoy the views of the tower and explore the tide pools during low tide.
Although I always have found it a bit sad to leave the beach, my solo adventure for the day was only half over. Another “Freebie” I learned about is the Pacific Marine Mammal Center located in Laguna Canyon, just a few miles away from the Laguna Beach shoreline.
There, an amazing team of highly trained and dedicated staff and volunteers, serve the center’s mission statement :
“The Pacific Marine Mammal Center Rescues, Rehabilitates And Releases Marine Mammals And Inspires Ocean Stewardship Through Research, Education And Collaboration.”
PMMC was the first marine mammal rehab facility in California. Started in the early 1970’s by a couple of lifeguards who couldn’t turn their back on stranded seals, with the help of a local veterinarian, they ended up caring for them at home and in the backyard pool! Their rescue efforts grew rapidly and soon they were moving into a barn that is still the base for the facility today.
Today, PMMC rescues seals and sea lions, Pinnipeds, who often beach themselves to be warm and dry when they are ill. They don’t always need intervention, so the staff is trained to recognize symptoms that can harm the animal’s chance for survival. Many have been affected by gill net entanglement, fishing lines and hooks, human inflicted injuries, shark bites and more. Trash is also becoming an increasingly vital concern.
Rehabilitation involves veterinary intervention. They may receive medicine, fluids, wound care, and tubal feeding because most of the animals are malnourished and dehydrated. The average length of stay is 3 months. As soon as they are improved enough, they wean them to eat whole fish. Often they are pups lessthan a year old and need to be taught to compete for their food. The center makes sure they prove these skills before release.
PMMC strives to return every patient back to the wild often releasing them in groups the’ve bonded with in the center for their best chance of survival.
If you can fit this into your “So Cal” trip, I highly recommend it. The volunteers will greet you in the visitor yard and introduce you to the “patients”.
There are many ways to support PMMC. If you live in the area, you might consider volunteering. But if you are visiting in person, or via online webcam , you can shop their online store for a variety of apparel and gifts as well as super cool “Adoption Kits”.
Yes. The Pacific Marine Mammal Center is Free to get in. But really, how could you not either donate or purchase something in their adorable Treasure Trove gift shop operated by the volunteers to raise much needed funds. I got this cute t-shirt! Which I will wear with pride knowing I am sharing with our Roaming With Rosie followers and others to create awareness of this worthy organization!