San Clemente 2013

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in San Clemente again last month. We were able to drive the Brown Explorer again. But, I'm not so sure it is “fresh” enough (with 185,000 miles) to make the trip again loaded down with all the family and stuff.

Since Laney has gotten to the point where she is pretty good in the water and was quite game at trying the surfboard last year, I decided to do a lot more surfing. Pretty consistently throughout the Spring I exercised my upper body as much as I could find time for so that I would be able to do the work part of surfing without too much trouble and concentrate on getting back into it. I think that really paid off and I recommend that approach to anyone thinking of trying surfing, prepare first by getting a little bit of upper body strength.

I had to spend Sunday evening rounding up the surfboards again. But, we had a very nice time visiting with Sean and his family and Kim and the Sister missionaries who were visiting her. We also bought a $100 Costco soft top surfboard to round out our quiver and provide one board that was a little less dangerous. I managed to surf a little every day, usually only for an hour or hour and a half (it's a lot of work for a 55 year old man.) The waves were quite small the WHOLE time. But, that is probably best. The upshot of that is that I only went bodysurfing on the first Saturday afternoon, right after we arrived.

The kids also had fun surfing. It looked like there might be a little bit of a rise in the surf on the last Thursday. So, we got up early and went to Doheny before 6am. I had stopped by there on my bike ride the day before and there were pretty consistent 2 foot-ish waves and a LOT of people on the one break next to the jetty. Still, it looked like fun. So, I was hoping the kids would also get to experience that place. No such luck. The waves were only about 6 inches when we showed up.

So, we went to Olds Man's (still quite early in the morning.) There was only one break really doing anything there too and about 30-40 people surfing it. We paddled out into extremely cold water and I caught a couple of waves and so did Ailsa and Jensen. But, then I turned to Ailsa and I said it was a lot more fun at the SC pier. So, we packed up and got donuts in town and called it a day.

We did see a lot of birds feeding most days. Especially one day while we were out surfing it seemed every 15 seconds or so a pelican or a tern was diving for a catch.

The second Sunday we went to Kim's ward in Fountain Valley because Roan Naumann was getting blessed. So, it was fun to attend that and then go to Kim's and see everyone, have yummy food, and ditch the last part of the Sunday meetings.

The last day there always borders on a little melancholy. Most of us walked down to Riviera beach and just enjoyed being together.

I did not see the old running man this year.