I was very excited, because we were going to the Carrizo Plain. I have always wanted to go there, and I finally would. We left a day later than we were going to because I was naughty the night before. We drove to Ojai, where a woman stared screaming because her dog ran away from her. Then we drove on the 33 to the Cuyama Valley, and through a pass in the Caliente Range into the Carrizo Plain National Monument. We drove on through the grassy plain next to the San Andreas Fault all the way to the Selby Rocks Campground. On the way, we looked for pronghorn and elk. At the campground, there was no one else there, so we pitched our tent and drove to Wallace Creek. Wallace Creek used to be a strait creek but over time the San Andreas Fault made it curve. 
We walked across the fault and followed a trail that petered out in the grass. We knew were we were going because we could see the fault, but Sam wanted to stay on the trail. We told him that if they let cows trample this landscape, than it isn’t such a big deal if we trample it. But Sam kept fighting us until we got back on the fault and my father told him to say “It’s not my fault, it’s San Andreas Fault.” Then he was happy.
We drove over the rough road and made reservations for Painted Rock. Then we found solar panels.
We drove back into the National Monument owned by the BLM and we walked over to Soda Lake. Soda Lake is a dry salt pan that fills in the spring in winter with water. Then birds from the ocean come and swim in the marshes of the Carrizo Plain. But since there was no water in Soda Lake, There weren’t any birds. We played tag on the dry lake bed and then walked on the board walk. 
After we had seen Soda Lake, we went back to the Selby Campground. It was so cold the whole night long. 
The next day (Thanksgiving), we took our climbing gear to the Selby Rocks. However, It was so cold that my hands couldn’t move, let alone climb. And, there were bird nests at the top so we couldn’t climb that high. There were Yokut pesels carved into the rock.
Then, we drove over to the closed Carrizo Plain Interpretive Center. Behind it there were strange machines built in the late 1800’s. We drove to a parking lot where a rabbit jumped into a fallen over sign pole. We walked over the rolling grass to a rock. 
We walked around the rock called Painted Rock.
Then we stepped into an alcove in the rock where another rabbit jumped into a cave. There were petroglyphs everywhere since this is where the Chumash and the Yokuts Traded.
A storm began to cloud the horizon as we strolled back to our car. 
We stopped at one more place before going home. It was the Soda lake overlook. The land around it looked black because of all the dead wildflowers. Soda Lake looked so much bigger from up on top of the hill.
We drove on a road called the Elkhorn Road back to the 33. It was 4-wheeled drive, but our van did it. there were many washes everywhere, but we didn’t care because the storm was on the other side of the plain. When we got to the 33, we realized the road was closed. We drove back on the 33 to San Buenaventura, and we sat on the top of a hill where there was a 200 year old cross and a view of Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands.
Santa Cruz Island
We jumped in the car and drove with the Cate students to San Buenaventura Harbor. We were going to Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park, right of shore from my house. On the boat, the sea sprayed us and the wind ruffled our hair. We saw dolphins and sea-lions, but no whales.
I spoke with an interesting woman who had never seen a pelican or the ocean before. When we got to the island, the ranger there told us about the rules and regulations and then we walked to our campground. Anyone who has been to Santa Cruz knows that there are foxes. They are endemic to the channel islands and are the size of house cats. 
The problem about the foxes is that they steal all of your food. They live in caves in the rocks, and sometimes you can find them in the trees eating figs.
The Cate students wanted to snorkel and kayak, so we headed down to the water. Unfortunately, the water wasn’t as clear as it was the last time I went there, so we Kayaked instead. We found a small thru-cave that the current pushed our kayak through, and we circled around a rock covered with cormorants, sea gulls, and pelicans. Then we came ashore and headed back through the outhouse-scented canyon.There are also cacti on Santa Cruz Island, and much to my delight, there are dudleas too.
On every Channel Island, there is a time in the afternoon when the light hits the hills perfectly. 
That is what met our eyes as we left the stinky Scorpion Canyon and headed along the bluff to Potato Harbor. Sam liked to pretend he was dead, and we found two foxes. 
Eventually, Sam and Daddy turned back and I went with the Cate students to the Potato, marveling at the views on the way.
I kept looking up at the montañon ridge, wishing that the next day I would climb to the top. 
The sun began to set over the grassy cliffs in the shadow of the high Sierra Blanca of Santa Cruz Island.
When we reached the Potato, the view was stunning, but I was more impressed with the harbor next to it, which had an isolated beach and a sea cave. 
The sun began to set in the hills, and we headed back to the campground, where I saw a missle from the military explode over the mountains and a woman who dressed up as another woman from the 1910’s. 
The next day, I snorkeled around the harbor looking for garibaldi when my mother came in a boat. I had been wanting to go to the top of Montañon Ridge and my mother could finally take me. I quickly got out of my swimsuit and we began our accent from the ocean. It took a while to get to the top, and we had to go on a trail that went strait up the hillside
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We trekked uphill to a place where there was a cliff on either side of us, and it reminded me of Slovenia
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There were no foxes on the top of the mountain, only live oak woodland and small shrubs growing out of the dry, gravely ground. Once at the top of the mountain, my mother and I ate lunch and noted the presence of a geological survey marking.
I streached my arms out on the top of the mountain the way most people do on the top of a mountain. I could almost see Santa Rosa Island!
On the way down from the mountain, we found a cypress grove and some dudleas.
We made it just in time for our boat back to San Buenaventura, and we saw some rare dolphins on the way.
