Beach Bum

After 26 days on the road, we wisely planned a one month recovery period - at the beach.  Balboa Island, Newport Beach specifically.  We chose this spot for several reasons:

1.  We love the beach.
2.  It's our daughter's last track season and we could catch the last 3 meets of her career.
3.  We love the beach.
4.  Our youngest son is here also.
5.  We love the beach.
6.  We found a great place to stay on Balboa Island. 
7.  We have lots of friends and family in the area.
8.  Did I mention we love the beach?

We decided this vacation would be a combination track-meet-watching, socializing, and early 25th anniversary trip.  That's how we justified the cost, anyway.  I first heard of Balboa Island last year when we were living in Fullerton and a group of women from church had a lunch outing here. 

Fun Facts about Balboa Island:  It has a perimeter of 2.6 miles, is 21 blocks long and 5 blocks wide.  It's a man-made island that was dredged and filled right before World War I.  The average dress size of the female island resident is 4.  Okay, I didn't find that last fact in the museum, but it was arrived at by deductive reasoning.  We go for a walk every day, and so do many of the residents.  That's where the similarities end.  These women all wear form-fitting leggings or yoga pants and tops.  These are not the loose-fitting, spare-tire-hiding tops I've come to wear.  There are no rolls to hide on their Pilate-perfect forms.  And I'm not just talking about 20 to 30-somethings.  I'm talking women in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and I daresay 80s with perfect figures.  The only cottage cheese on this island is in the grocery store.  I don't know how they do it.  Maybe there's a Stepford Wives thing going on here...

We rented the top floor of a cute little house that was plenty roomy for us.  Things were a little outdated, however.  For example, the microwave was probably made when thongs were something you wore with bellbottoms - on your feet. 




We were welcomed with a nice hospitality gift

Though we were on vacation, daily exercise was a must.  Because you know, we're health nuts.  And, um, it helped us to rationalize frequent consumption of Balboa Bars, a gorgeous concoction of a square of vanilla ice cream on a stick, enrobed in chocolate something-or-other and rolled in your choice of toppings.  Chopped almonds and Heath Bar (not to be confused with health bar) for me, and peanuts and Choco-Jimmies for hubby.  How anyone would prefer little plasticky sprinkle things over chopped up toffee and chocolate is beyond my comprehension.  Oh, and there were also chocolate-dipped frozen bananas, also rolled in toppings.  I could never work there because I'd be dipping my finger in chocolate and rolling it in all the possible topping combinations daily.  You know, like a scientific study. 

So here we are riding our bikes to Corona Del Mar.  That was a fun ride until we got to the steep, steep hill that made my pedals freeze in mid-rotation so that I had to jump off and walk or fall over from lack of forward progression.




3 B days: Backpack chairs on bikes to beach

Other times we took our bikes on the ferry and rode up and down Newport Beach. 







Standing on the jetty on Corona Del Mar

Then there was the walking.  The unfortunate thing about walking around Balboa Island is you can't look out at the beauty of the harbor too much or you risk stepping in the residue of their most pampered residents.   It was beautiful, but you had to constantly look down for land mines.  Yes, they dutifully carried their plastic bags, but when the dog does the doo on the concrete, the doo goo leaves residue.  Hey, that brings out the Dr. Seuss in me:  It's true that I eschew the doo when the view is the hue of blue and there's a crew in a canoe on the Pacific stew.  I knew that the residue of the doo leaves a booboo like glue in which few can stand the piu.  Therefore, this Jew grew to pursue the steps without the curlicue of doo.

Okay, got that out of my system.  Back to those pampered residents.  I actually saw a dog riding in a basket with a purple dress and matching purple, flower-shaped sunglasses.  I wonder if she picked out her own outfit using the helpful Garanimals tags. 

My favorite man in front of one of my favorite houses

We never tired of looking out at the harbor

One other form of exercise that we tried 3 times was paddleboarding.  I've been wanting to try it for a while.  The problem is, I have this irrational fear of water, especially large bodies of water.  For instance, bigger than a kiddie pool and deeper than my height.  Knee-trembling fear made my forays on the water more challenging, but I eventually calmed down enough to paddle around and have a good time.  Of course, knowing my husband is an excellent swimmer and would save me if I fell in gave me more confidence too.  Eat your heart out, David Hasselhoff. 

So that was our wonderful, relaxing, fun-filled, chocolate-covered beach house vacation.  

Blessings:
1.  The landlords were super nice and invited us to stay for free when we come back for graduation, and even pick us up at the airport.
2.  We were able to spend time with many friends and family members.
3.  We had great weather.
4.  We were able to be there for our son's premiere and our daughter's track finals (where she finished with a flourish).
5.  My man.