I’ve lived in Los Angeles since mid-2005 and just visited Palos Verdes for the first time.
While I’d like to blame my delayed visit on the distance, I really have no excuse for not making PV a priority sooner.
My sister and I begin our afternoon at an overlook above Trump Golf Course on the southern edge of the Palos Verdes peninsula.
We are immediately impressed.
We continue west towards Abalone Cove Shoreline Park. It costs $5 to park and is worth every penny! I knew from reading Yelp reviews that this would likely be our favorite destination, and I’m happy to report it lives up to expectations.
In fact, we are so impressed with this park that we spend several hours hiking down to the beach and walking through the tide pools. We scope out fascinating organisms hiding under rocks and I’ll share our explorations in a separate post coming tomorrow. Here are a few teaser images:
We tear ourselves away from the tide pools and drive further west to Point Vicente Lighthouse just in time to catch the sunset.
Here’s my sister and I:
The Point Vicente Interpretive Center is a short walk from the lighthouse. There’s a whale watching group with portable chairs and serious binoculars just packing up as the sun sets.
This space looks like it might be rented out for weddings or other celebratory gatherings.
That wraps up our afternoon in Palos Verdes! I wish we had more time to explore and hike.
My next visit will be much sooner than seven years. Lesson learned: do not underestimate the beauty of Palos Verdes.
Here’s a summary of the places we stopped:
– overlook above Trump National Golf Club
But we only got to explore about half of the areas I wanted to see.
Next time I’d like to stop at a few other parks and beaches —
– Portuguese Bend Nature Reserve
That route looks like this:
And just because I’m super thorough, here is a complete map of all of the above trails in case you want to spend a whole day checking out Palos Verdes:
What parks and beaches did I miss? What should I add to my list to check out next time?
