My wife and I, for pre-Valentine's Day, took the day off from work and spent the day yesterday along the Orange County Coast, beginning in Newport, travelling through Corona Del Mar, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, Capistrano, and San Clemente, and finally dipping into San Diego County in Oceanside to wrap things up with lunch at Joe's Crab Shack.
The images you see here are from Dana Point. I took the pictures from a park above a site where new homes are being built. The lots are not necessarily very large, but the homes are. The park is a site that a few years ago I was a part of constructing. It was nice to see how the thing turned out.
The day was overcast, and it wound up raining last night. The gloomy weather, however, added an interesting grayness that actually made the scenes we encountered more picturesque.
When we first arrived in Corona Del Mar I took my wife to an area through a neighborhood that is a wildlife protection area. Only the locals are familiar with it, and so there are few people that visit it. Nice way to avoid any crowds. The walk to the beach is a long downhill stroll between very large homes and a cliff-like drop-off to the beach. At the bottom a river spills into the ocean. A number of rock outcroppings and quite a bit of smaller sea-life are present.
As we passed through Laguna Beach we decided to pull into a narrow horseshoe road where my Uncle Gil and Aunt Alice used to live. I found their home easy enough, and memories of visiting them as a child flooded me as we stopped for a moment.
My Uncle Gil died shortly after Alice did. Alice was involved in art galleries, owning a couple herself, and my uncle and his father were the first to can tuna. They created the label "Chicken of the Sea," and made a bundle when Van Camp Sea Food merged with Ralston Purina in 1969.
Alice bought me hundreds of dollars of books every Christmas, following a theme. I credit her with the fact that I am an avid reader. She also funded my college run, but I wound up not taking the education route she have envisioned for me.
Though Gil and Alice were quite wealthy, as was pretty much the whole lot on my father's side of the family, Gil and Alice were about as down to earth as you can get. Their home, however, was quite extravagant, with a private beach down below. A large fish pond centered the courtyard, and a few guest houses dotted the way. The rooms in the home were large, and the side facing the ocean had balconies at all opportunities. As we pulled around the narrow road back to the Pacific Coast Highway, I had a sneaking suspicion that would be the last time I would set eyes on their home.
Lunch at Joe's Crab Shack in Oceanside is always a good experience. Of the chain, that is my favorite of their locations. The food has always been flawless at this location, and the view is over the harbor. The woman serving us was chatty, and called home near where we live. Her husband is a United States Marine, and she is studying to be a teacher. I enjoy chatting with folks. My wife is not so receptive, wanting to enjoy her meal in silence.
We joke all the time about how different we are. My wife and I only have our kids in common, yet somehow we have made it through over twenty-seven years of marriage. I enjoyed the scenery more than her, but she was aching to walk into a few museums or which I was not necessarily looking forward to. Well, opposites attract, and we are a classic case of that.
Today, we are going to just chill. Spend a nice quiet day at home, with breakfast in bed, and lunch at a local steakhouse. Perhaps go to the movies. Tomorrow, it will be back to work, with a nice, short, three day week.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
No comments:
Post a Comment