California Day 15 - Leo Carrillo State Park to Hermosa Beach

 It was a short day today. The best option to stay in Los Angeles, balancing fun and economy, looks like the Hermosa Beach Hostel. Which is only 40 miles down the road, but that leaves two 60 miles days to wrap up the trip and that's fine. Besides, I need to do laundry.

The first half of the day was riding through 21 Miles of Scenic Beauty, as the sign describes Malibu. Here is a picture of the misty Malibu morning.

Here is a Malibu in Malibu!

I spent all morning looking to take a picture of a Malibu in Malibu. I rode through about 20 of the 21 scenic miles before I spotted one.

Here are other cars that are at least as likely to be seen in Malibu as a Malibu, based on my personal observation:
* Rolls Royce
* Aston Martin
* VW iD Buzz
* VW Microbus
* Lucid Air

Rivians and Cybertrucks are common. Porsches are abundant.

I suspect the Malibu Malibu belonged to the landscaper working on the yard across the street.

The southern part of the Pacific Coast Highway has mile after mile of vacant waterfront lots where the homes had been demolished. This was quite a puzzler. That's a lot of valuable home sites where there were obviously lots of houses, which are gone. Later on, the Internet explained to me that all burned down in the Pacific Palisades wildfire.

Here is a picture of a tree.

And here is a view looking back up the road from the start of Santa Monica.

The hostel doesn't have guest laundry, so Google Maps says the closest laundromat to the route is on Lincoln Ave. in Santa Monica. Lincoln Ave. is a major urban thoroughfare. So I left the scenic bike paths and went into the big city. 

It was a nice laundromat. Clean and efficient. Washing and drying a load was less than $5.

I got a spicy Italian sandwich and a Mexican Coke at the LoKal sandwich shop a few blocks down. It was excellent.

And the laundry side trip didn't actually add much mileage, because the route has to go around Marina Del Rey anyway. 

It was 10 miles of riding along the beach from Marina Del Rey to hostel.

Which is the second and third floor of this building on the main drag of Hermosa Beach.

I had to lug my bike and gear up a long flight of stairs.

Hermosa Beach is a big hotspot.

I had dinner at Hennessey's Irish Tavern, the green building in front on the right. The hostel is the white building behind it. There are so many walkable options here!

Electrolytes are replenished.

And I had a huge, hearty bowl of Shepherds' Pie. I am all fueled up for tomorrow.

Tomorrow's lodging is not locked down yet. This may become an adventure. I want to camp, but there are reports on The Internet that the state park halfway between here and San Diego may not actually have a hiker biker campsite as advertised. We shall see. Motel rooms are very expensive.

Here is the Strava track for today: https://www.strava.com/activities/17870485637