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.
