Thursday's Conclusion

As Thursday was coming to an end, we decided to stop by the famous "Crab Cooker" Restaurant to buy a couple bowls of clam chowder "to go" and then drive over to Corona Del Mar to eat at the little park above the Newport Channel.

The view there is a spectacular place to watch the boats, the people, and the sky. So we enjoyed our soup while waiting for the sun to drop below the cloud bank and officially have a sunset. (See the larger version by clicking the magnifying glass on the bottom edge of the photo.)

The frame on the top left shows the channel, but also one of the multi-million dollar homes that hangs out over the cliff on the Corona Del Mar side. The frame on the top right is looking over the Corona Del Mar homes and shows the channel side of many of the Newport Peninsula homes and their docks, which is a view that cannot be seen from the peninsula--where all that can be seen are the driveways and garage doors.

The bottom left frame shows the park where lots of folks come to lookey-lou and bring their dinner. Some get so fancy as to bring a table and cloth, fine china, and wine glasses. We simply ate our "to go" soup on the park bench and enjoyed it immensely. Oh, Mr. Fun had also purchased some smoke albacore, so he and Bob dog shared the delights of that (I had a couple bites too).

The final frame on the bottom right is a couple of miles south on the coast. We stopped at "Ruby's Shake Shack" (no we didn't have a shake--we're dieting) which is between Corona Del Mar and Laguna Beach. As we stood there looking over at Crystal Cove below us and even seeing north to the end of the rock jetty of the Newport Channel, Mr. Fun told me all about Crystal Cove which is part of the the California State Park system and that all the beach houses can be rented and the restaurant (see the white umbrellas) opens at 7:00 a.m. for breakfast, so we made a date to be there Friday morning (tomorrow) for the final breakfast of this vacation. Mr. Fun had cycled all through Crystal Cove and this portion of the coast earlier in the day.

Now the vacation "true confession" is -- yesterday (Wednesday) I got real tired of vacation (really). I guess "homesick" would be the best way to describe it--we had been gone from home for 12 days (that's a long time). I hope others identify with having a "vacation breaking-point moment" because that was what I was having. He said, "Take the car and go home!" So I did. I figured vacation was over for me. Then this afternoon after he had spent the day pedaling all over Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, crossed the Newport Channel on the ferry, and pedaled south as far as Crystal Cove and then back to our "borrowed" home in Huntington Beach, he phoned me to ask if I'd come back--said he was lonely. "Oh gosh!" what should I do?? It took me about a half second to pack my overnight bag and Bob dog's food and water bowls. We were on the freeway and headed for Huntington Beach. The minute I arrived, I said, "Let's eat dinner while we watch the sun go down." It just took moments and the 3 of us were in the car and deciding what to do for dinner (and stay on our diet). It was fabulous to be back at the beach and spend the last evening and night of vacation together as a three-some -- me, Mr. Fun and Bob dog.

That's the truth!
Rosie, aka Carol

P.S. This is being back-blipped one day late because we have no Internet connection at the house and did not get to the library before they closed to use theirs.