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Show DAILY D2 El HERALD "It's like camping with the luxury of a hot shower," Leonard said as the family spread Continued from Dl i out as holiday feast. 'We have four bunk beds. There's also a My friend Mike told me about the spot 20 miles north of sleep loft, so you could get six Santa Barbara in the foothills of people in here. It would be a little tight." the Santa Ynez Mountains after I asked how he had divided his son had visited with other friends. We decided it sounded up his clan for sleeping purlike a great spot for a double-famipose. Theresa laughed. "One cabin for Grandma, the Thanksgiving weekend other for everyone else," she trip. I checked my route on said "I want a place that is all mine." MapQuest. The drive up from MICHAEL 6 OUUHNS Orange County Register We signed up for the llama Oange County would take two A group surveys the landscape mar El Capitan Canyon, Calif. hours and 27 minutes without feeding walk, gathering down traffic Maybe four hours with by the Canyon Market for a quick briefing from "Larry the heavy traffic. Llama Guy," before heading up The plan: Hit the road at 9 an edict that all but essentials felt like I was back in my Boy d the hill to meet the fluffy, a.m. Wednesday, right after the Scout days, even as I slapped would go into a large wooden creatures raised as a down some plastic to guarantee trunk near the door. morning rush hour. side business on the property. our charges at the espresso bar Reality: We dawdled It was Sleeping arrangements had noon before we htt the road, at the Canyon Market across to be rearranged. My wife and Larry let us know right off I were supposed to have the and a tractor-traile- r had done a the gravel drive. that the llamas were not cute p little pets, but were sometimes in the Sepulveda Pass. Mike greeted me at the bed, with the kids in the sleepFive hours later, we made it cabins. He had left early and temperamental creatures with a ing loft. But the steep, seven-run- g missed all the traffic mess. I ladder and low guardrail to the 101 interchange. I was tendency to let go with volleys son of sticky goo. was the image of urban stress. meant only our ready to make up for lost time when a sleepy little voice from could stay up there (much to his Mike was the picture of coun"Actually they are not spitthe back seat whispered, "Dadhurrahs). Our ting; they are projectile vomit try contentment. We said our dy, I'm hungry." My dreams good nights. daughter would sleep on a pad ing," Larry said. "The good of burgers cooked over the on the ground floor. Within an Our Creekside Queen cabin thing is that they mostly spit at hour of lights out, she was up in each other had a high campfire turned to ashes. Dinceiling, ner would be a two-hoa shallow porch and wooden bed, next to Mom. I felt like a Larry took us up a windstop at a supermarket food court in shutters over the windows. A XL sardine in a pillow-fille- d caa ing, dry, switchback trail with views of the beautiful canyon Tarzana. queen bed dominated the floor, Waking up the first mornand the ocean but also of a One SigAlert and eight hours with a snug sleeping loft above. ing, we realized a big dose of civilization had disappeared. A small fridge and microwave after we started, we pulled up nearby RV park and the busy 101 freeway. But even with the were shoehorned into a space to El Capitan Canyon. OK, well, you could hear a I stepped out of the car and SUVs and tractor-trailerroarlittle rumble of noise from the across from a tiny bathroom smelled the leaves and trees, with a shower. The whole place highway way down the valley, ing by below, the space felt like a piece of old California, the the cedar of the check-i- n lobby was in need of hooks, especially and my son was moaning and hillside brown in the autumn, and the smoke of fireplaces. I the bathroom. My wife issued groaning a bit that the promised Wi-F- i signal was too weak the kind of place I remember for him to hook up to his Skype before the armies of condos and McMansions marched from the texting program. mountains to the sea. But out on the porch, I sat The llamas had an approach-avoidanc- e with my daughter as three deer (white bottoms with black tails) thing going as 40 or strolled between our cabins. We so people, hands filled with hay, heard the wandered toward them. They of a redheaded woodpecker hit- wanted the food, but probably ting the cedar front of the cabin preferred the quiet days when next door. I finally figured out just Larry showed up with the feed. Children wandered after that the crack, bang, thunk 10 Windows Installed noise we heard over and over the loping Hamas as parents ran Low E, Vinyl Frames, up to 15 sq. ft each was acorns falling from a huge around with cameras and video tree onto the metal roof of the recorders, trying to capture the cabin next door. Upgrade Options: , golden moments. On a walk down to get some After awhile, my kids decidSwing in for Easy Cleaning coffee from the Canyon Mared it was more fun to play fetch Hidden Screens, More Light with Gus, the border collie who ket, I met Leonard Lopez of Secure Multi-poiLocks Los Alamitos, who was setting works with Larry ("Not a pet," up Thanksgiving festivities Larry said). Easy to Operate I chatted with Ron Litchfield, cabins he rented two between Energy Efficient, Save $'s for his extended family: wife, a Prescott, Ariz., firefighter Holly, four kids and his mother, who had been sent out to fight One Year No Interest Theresa. the Santiago Canyon blaze in Lopez said he liked the hy. Orange County that falL This g brid of having a was a sort of famqualify 223-705Windows & Jf cabin and being able to walk ily gift for all the time he was Doors, inc about 100 yards to a fully away. "We have the melting togethstocked store that included a Utah toll free Showroom 505 N 1200 West, Orem er of family and friends from bakery and coffeehouse. Capitan If you I El go I Rates: season High is April through November, when rates start at $145 per night for the two categones of tents and rise through several categories of cabins to top out at $350 per night for the new Canyon Loft cabins. Our Creek-sid- e Queen cabin cost $255 per night. Rates are reduced from December through March to $125-$310- . .... tong-necke- flip-flo- -- d ur s OEPLieiLiiTiuoorje LIMITED TIME OFFER io. $2900 whack-whack-wha- 00 (i"iiV,, 2 rustic-feelin- second and final full day at El Capitan was spent mostly at le the beach. The cruiser-stbicycles available at the Canyon Market had all been checked out. Our only choice was to hike down the road, under a freeway overpass and along a trail, through the brush, to the Pacific. ' The camp forecast was that the beach would be too cold for swimming, so we planned to go down to hunt for rocks and shells. Staying at O Capitan Canyon is like being in a small ; towa So, there was Litchfield, ' the firefighter, who said the turkey frying had been a big success. The Lopez family clambered around on the rocks. "It's a very different kind of beach than back home," Holly said. "The kids were able to see sea anemones. But it's too cold to swim." Well, too cold for nearly everyone. Not for the first or last time, my water bug of a daughter could not resist the allure of the waves, splashing in the surf in her jeans, then battling the d resulting chafing, walking all the way back to our cabin like a tiny John Wayne. Another afternoon of wonderful, wasteful nothingness. A good night's sleep. Then time to go. Mike's family had a Satur- -' day commitment, so they were leaving just as I woke up. We dawdled until almost nooa I thought about taking the family back to Orange County via Pacific Coast Highway, a longer but prettier drive. We finally packed up and drove down to the front office to pay our bill, There was a commotion in the parking lot. The radio was fire in reporting a y Capitan Canyon: On tancanyon.com or call ly 7' 30,2008 Friday. May all over," he said. "Grandma, aunt, moms and dads, and lots of kids. We're going to deep-fr-y a turkey for 12." We filled the rest of the afternoon with a busy schedule of snoozing, drinking margaritas, reading, snoozing again and, for a few of us (read: not me), a game of touch football on a green oval down the road. We had opted to buy El Capitan Canyon's fully catered Thanksgiving dinner. The little truck with our holiday meal rumbled up the road and deposited big trays of turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and pie on a wooden table by the dry creek. We lit all the candles we could find and did our best gourmand Pilgrims imperson-atio- a As it grew dark and cold, Mike fired up the pit. The kids wandered off to play in the lofts. The wives came and went, depending on the testosterone level of the conversatioa My wife, a recovering journal ist, fled at the first sound of whining about the office. Mike and I held down the fire pit, doing manly things like discussing the positioning of the logs in the pit, how to move the ashes around, and the best side of the wood to place toward the e flame. We tried to avoid burns and keep the boys from pulling burning sticks from the sometimes-blazinsometimes-smolderinpit that threw our large, otherworldly shadows against the canopy of trees. We awoke Friday bleary from the monster repast. Our third-degre- bow-legge- fast-movi- Malibu. I paid up, pulled onto the freeway and hit the pedaL I announced there would be no food, no bathroom stops, until we cleared Malibu. If we didn't get past the fire before the highway was closed, we could spend hours on back roads. Past Ventura, a thick column of brown smoke rose against the clear blue sky. We slowed but did not stop. As the fire was finally in my rear-viemirror, I took the first deep breath in two hours. My hands were sweaty with stress, and I could feel the muscles in my forearms ache from clutching ' the wheel. All that country comfort had drained out of me. 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