California Nuts: Part 2

With San Diego and Laguna Beach merely pleasant memories to the South of us, we spent the next day in Huntington Beach. Famous not only for being the official "Surf City, USA," Huntington Beach is also known for its pier. At 1,850 feet long, it's one of the longest public piers on the West Coast. (Of course, the city's most important claim to fame by far is being the birth place of my husband).



We didn't allow a bit of the morning gray haze stop us from walking down Huntington's Main Street and down to the end of the pier to eat at Ruby's, one of our favorite local haunts for the good coffee, great whole wheat nutty pancakes, and amazing views. (Sure enough, surfers were spotted).



The rest of the day unfolded at a leisurely pace for a change, with puttering through tony Newport Beach's Fashion Island (east coasters, think Tyson's Corner, but an outdoor mall with coastal views), as well as a drive through Balboa Island, a tiny island jam-packed with houses, marinas, and cute shops.

Even weighed down by the approximately 1 million pounds of See's Candy we purchased between us, the little Mustang convertible was able to get us back to Huntington Beach where we enjoyed dinner in town with local family.



The next morning we hit Sugar Shack - a staple for all HB locals - and did the crazy. The unthinkable. That which all locals tried to warn us away from: driving into Los Angeles.

Actually, despite the dire warnings, the drive wasn't too bad, and we enjoyed the chance to check out the famous Santa Monica Pier on a relatively un-crowded Thursday morning including a ride on the iconic Ferris Wheel.



Great views up and down LA / Santa Monica beach...

From there we went to our hotel - the Andaz at West Hollywood. Thanks to my husband's gazillion Hyatt points, we were upgraded to a room with snazzy views and plied with copious amounts of free wine (of which we accepted one glass but cut it off there since it was only 1pm... though 5 o'clock somewhere...)



After hotel room view ogling, it was off to don our tourist hat to visit the Chinese Theater / Walk of Fame (think stars and hand prints in the sidewalk), then up into the Hollywood hills to visit the Griffith Observatory.

Opened in 1935, Griffith Observatory is an iconic LA landmark, and offers sweeping views of LA. We arrived in time to take in the daylight views as well as linger through a spectacular sunset.






Night descends at Griffith...



While the morning would see us winging our way back to the east coast, the few days away was a lovely chance to recharge, obtain a slight sunburn (LA traffic + sunshine + convertible = dangerous), enjoy Auntie/Niecy bonding, and soak in the beautiful California sights and amazingly green smoothies.

Until next time, California!

California Nuts: Part 1

There comes a time in every parent's life when the need to get away becomes a tangible thing. Not because we don't love our children, cherish their smiles, or look forward to sleepy bedtime book-reading snuggles. But because we wear down, from 6am weekend wakeups, to harried "no, not the knives! or stairs! or outlets! or marble-eating!" chasing, to having 30 second conversations with everyone we know because half our brain is following our child around the room.

At times, the need to get away is not about distance from kids, but rather rediscovering silence; the peace of morning coffee, the whisper on the breeze, the gentle nudging warmth of the sun ray.

After a long winter of waking up with the baby and every communicable daycare disease known to man, it was time for just such a retreat.

Having the invaluable asset of in town grandparents to help with the kiddos and a husband with gobs of hotel points saved up from his years of consulting travel, my aunt and I embarked on a long weekend up the Southern California Coast.

Chapter I: San Diego Meets Cousin

We arrived Tuesday afternoon, picked up our rental mustang convertible (when in Rome with the sunshine...) and picked up my aunt's cousin Sharon, who my aunt hasn't seen in 27 years. After a few death-defying merge sequences across 8-lane California freeways, we made it to lunch at Humphrey's, a hotel on San Diego's Shelter Island with marina views.

That evening we checked into the Andaz Hotel - a boutique chain owned by Hyatt - located in the Gaslamp district with a killer rooftop pool & bar view. (And stellar maple/bacon brussel sprouts). Having arrived in the "May Gray"/"June Gloom" portion of San Diego's weather year, there were clouds most mornings, that generally burned off by afternoon.



The next morning we partook of an excessively green omelette (again, when in Rome with the vegetable eaters...), and hopped on a 2 hour tour of the San Diego bay.



The bay buzzes with boat and helicopter traffic; it's not only one of the best places for sailboating in the USA, it also houses the large Coronado Naval Base (home of course to the rigorous SEAL training "hell week"). We passed a number of naval vessels receiving repairs, including the newer Independence class, which has a Star Wars vibe (in engineering terms, increased speed, stability, and radar elusiveness).



The San Diego-Coronado Bridge opened in 1969 at 2.1 miles - originally planned to be slightly shorter until engineers realized that federal funds were available for bridges greater than 2 miles long. Today it remains a sweeping part of the San Diego landscape.

We grabbed a late lunch near San Diego Seaport Village - after touring kitchy but cute shops like the "Hot Licks" hot sauce-only store, then hit the road in the afternoon to head towards Huntington Beach.

Southern California locals spend a significant portion of their lives kvetching about traffic. We discovered that this is not a baseless past-time, and after doing a fair amount of highway-sitting on our way from San Diego north to Huntington Beach, we pulled into Laguna Beach to wait out rush hour. Soldiering on through our suffering, we browsed the cute local shops, and caught a gorgeous sunset from the patio of the Laguna Beach Hotel. Arriving in Huntington Beach Wednesday evening, we crashed in Surf City to rest up for another day of California Adventures!