Day 11 - Monday, June 22 - A day at the Beach
After several busy/early days, we decided that that our upcoming DL/CA days would go better if we took a day to rest and relax beforehand. So the goal for today was to sleep in a little and then head to the beach for the better part of the day.
So yeah, we slept in a bit and headed over to the continental breakfast around 9:30 AM. In hindsight, I wish I had taken a few photos of the breakfast options, because they were actually pretty good and might have been helpful for anyone who may be considering the Candy Cane Inn for a future visit. Oh well…
Anyway, they had a fair amount of items to choose from and they kept everything well stocked. They had a fair amount of fruit. A good selection of fresh donuts from a real donut bakery. A few different types of fresh bagels and nice bread. (And a couple toasters) A cheese platter. Hard boiled eggs. Etc. (There was no waffle machine, but I usually skip those anyway.) And also a cart full of different types of cereals. And then of course, they had coffee, milk, juice, tea, etc. I guess, it wasn’t a huge breakfast (no hot items), but the stuff that they did have was high quality, which is better in my book.
Anyway, we grabbed some food and then ate on the patio by the pool.
What a pleasant place to have a meal!
After we finished eating, the girls wanted to swim for a while, I kept an eye on them while most everyone else took it easy in their rooms.
Around 11:30 AM or so, we piled into our Vans and headed for the Balboa area of Newport Beach.
When we arrived, the boys pretty much made a bee line for the water.
Only to say, “Yikes, that’s pretty cold!"
We paused for a few photos...
Hi Grandpa!
Personally, I hate getting sand all over myself. But ever since Pickle was a baby, she pretty much always enjoyed covering herself in it.
A bit later, they all started getting the courage to get in the cold water.
And then more sand time
And while the kids played in the water and worked on their sand castles, Stephanie and I just relaxed and soaked it all in. Ahh, the good life.
The little kids were content to play in the sand and water. Stephanie and Princess were content to just lay on their towels and soak in the sun. I started to get restless, so I headed down to explore Balboa Pier.
What a view!
After a while, I headed back and we all enjoyed the beach a bit longer. So much fun. A beautiful, sunny day, with lots of people having fun in their various groups. We were lucky too, because a family settled in behind us with a fairly loud radio, and their playlist was awesome. It just made for a fun/festive atmosphere.
I guess we stayed on the beach for 2 to 2.5 hours and decided we were read for lunch. We dropped our towels and stuff off at the cars and then headed back up to the pier to use their restroom and to rinse the sand off.
We explored the pier and enjoyed the views for a few minutes before deciding on lunch.
There were a bunch of dudes out with surf boards, but the waves were weak, so I’m not sure what they were doing.
Hi Princess!!!
See anything cool?!?!
Stephanie and I had visited this beach by ourselves back in 2010, and we stumbled upon an excellent Mexican restaurant. We wanted to eat their again, but most everyone else didn’t want Mexican. So Steph, Princess, Pickle, Nanny, and I headed over to the main strip for Mexican, and the rest headed down Ruby’s (at the end of the pier) for burgers/fries.
It was about a 5 minute walk from the pier to the restaurant on the main street. It was called “Great Mex”.
We had fish tacos last time, and they were the stuff that dreams were made of. We couldn’t resit ordering them again, even though they had a ton of other options on the menu.
It’s a small joint and it was packed, even around 2:45 PM. Luckily, a group of people were leaving just after we placed our order at the counter. Score!!!
We started with chips and salsa.
Pickle had fun deciding which salsa(s) she wanted to try.
And a few minutes later, our food came out.
Pickle had a cheese quesadilla, which I’m sure was tasty because she ate it all.
And the rest of us all had fish tacos. I’m not going to share all the plates, because they basically looked the same. Personally, I had two with grilled fish and with fried fried fish. I think the others had one of each.
Heaven on earth!!! Interestingly, I think I preferred the fried fish version and Stephane preferred the grilled version. (I liked the extra crunch that the fried version offered.)
I guess instead of coming up with a clever name for the restaurant, they just called it "Great Mex", because, well, you know, it's great!
After we finished eating, we checked in with the others at Ruby's and they weren’t quite ready yet, so we browsed through a couple of the gift/surf shops as we headed back to meet them at the pier. They enjoyed their burgers/fries/shakes, and all in all, everyone was happy with their lunches!
Next up, we decided to head over to Laguna beach. But instead of backtracking, we decided to take the ferry across to Balboa Island. We were lucky with the timing, because when it was our turn to board, we ended up in the front. Cool!
It was pretty awesome. Going across the channel, without leaving your car! We saw a seal (or maybe an otter?) swimming across next to us. The kids got excited about that. And then we passed the other ferry making its return to the other side.
