Huntington Beach 2018

Another super fun time at the Beach this past August. We needed to drop Laney off at SUU on the way back. So, we drove both the Lexus and the Rav4 down to Saint George and left the Rav there while we went to the beach. Mom had hip joint replacement surgery on the first of the month and was still in the rehab place when we stopped there. We stayed into Sunday morning because Leslie had her Paris Abroad friends at the beach house until Sunday afternoon and we were supposed to delay our arrival until after that was over. It was pretty hot in Saint George. Our car got up to 122 sitting in the driveway. We visited mom a couple of times and gave her a blessing.

I think we were cursed for travelling on Sunday. We left around 11 after Sacrament meeting. The drive to Las Vegas to pick up the kids took an extra hour because a car fire maybe 20 miles past Mesquite had the traffic literally at a standstill. That was annoying enough. But, after we picked up Jensen and Ailsa in Las Vegas we had to deal with all of the return traffic to LA from LV after the weekend revels. That added probably another 2.5 hours to our drive. Not fun. I was kinda hoping we might be able to catch Leslie's friend Lisa Little (who I know from the Washington Seminar) before she left. They were already all gone.

The surf was high the whole first week. Even when we went to Corona del Mar. I did go in and body surf a little during the swell. But, I'm super mindful of my lack of oxygen processing ability now. Perhaps if I was able to do it regularly, I could regain some power and stamina. Also, the water temp was SUPER nice, around 74-75 the whole time. Quite a bit warmer than I think I have ever seen it there.

I'm trying to take a picture of me and Ailsa on the bikes. This is returning from the Huntington Pier. I did get my churro at a fun little shop right on PCH.

Since the surf was heavy a very large wall of sand developed at the upper end of Newport. At its highest it was 5-6 feet. For this picture we were horsing around trying to make it look like it was difficult to navigate.

We went to CDM at my insistence. Because it's a fairly nice "family" beach. We went on Friday knowing that Saturday would be a mob. Well, Friday wasn't much better. We need to go on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Since the surf was so high, the lifeguards didn't want people in the water past their knees unless they had two fins. I caught a couple of nice waves. They were higher than I have ever seen here. Usually they are laughably small.

I took everyone to see Hidden Cove. They really enjoyed it. Although, they want to go back when it isn't so crowded. We think lots of people sought it out because they could enjoy the water at will since there is no surf there.

We attended church at the closest building. After Sacrament meeting Melody Conforti came up and said hi. It was nice to see an old friend from the Orange III ward. Also, chatted briefly with a young man who had been translating for a Spanish speaking member and another member whose name was Tad. The translator's name was Todd. He was quickly showing us video of himself surfing at the Kelly Slater ranch. JEALOUS! The family had much to say about my slipping right into the rhythm of the place and the bizarro similarities between me and Todd and Tad.

After leaving late Tuesday night and sleeping at Ailsa's apartment, we dropped Laney off in Cedar City without a hitch and made it home by about six. All of the cats are looking at us like, "What did you do with the girls?"