Adventure 189: San Elijo Beach/San Diego, CA/Post B

Dude!

A normal morning for us: oatmeal, toast with strawberry jelly and cheddar cheese, Coffee the Costa Rica way, and a game of cribbage (The Wily Cager is a little smelly today). Then we sauntered over to the local Starbucks to recharge our electronics. Judy was still recovering from our over doing it a  couple of days ago, so she laid low for the rest of the early afternoon while I wandered the area trying to get some steps in. Around three, guided by our trusty gal, Susie GPS, we traversed three freeways over to Jim and Karen's house in Rancho Bernardo where for the next five hours, we gabbed, prepared delicious food, gabbed, prepared delicious food, and gabbed some more. Of course, Jim and Karen poured excellent wines with each of course during the evening. For the first nibble Jim blended a mixture of cheeses  which he then spread onto slices of baguette. He put the bread under the broiler for a couple of minutes. The result was oozing goodness.  We drank a crisp cool Rose with that course. Karen had prepared a vegetable  plate as well. After our nibbles, we took a breather so I could teach Jim a few Tai Chi exercises that may help his back (He's had two surgeries). Then we started preparing the main course of Sea Bass with Black Bean sauce over a bed of Jicama, Peblano Peppers, Tomatoes, and Scallions, which were reduced a bit with white wine and olive oil. The fish fillets were then steamed  while resting on the vegetable bed. (Amazingly simple considering it was so delicious). With all of that we sipped a little Sauvignon Blanc. The only tricky part was heating the Black Bean Sauce because it's easy to burn the beans. Judy took care of that while Karen made salad. Jim and I watched the fish. The dinner was topped off with fresh fruit tarts paired with a sweet rich dessert wine. This is how the Cramers roll. High quality stuff from high quality people enjoyed at an exquisitely European pace (Not bad for Irish kids from the midwest). Actually, I'm not sure Karen is Irish, but she must at least be honorary by now (I know Judy is). The whole evening was delightful, the second of a great reuniting weekend to be followed by a Super Bowl party tomorrow, which is another testament to the kindness of these two. I have to believe they're not regular watchers of the NFL. The best part is the sharing of good food and renewing good friendships. I mean what is life without relationships. And I can tell you this, the Cramers have another something special planned for tomorrow. The only thing I can really say is that life is good, especially today.

 Hot Rod of the Day.

 So cool, I took two.

 Beach Tandem.

 Jim pulling the toasted  cheese baguettes from the oven.

 Taking time to work on our balance because balance is important in life.

 Stumpy doing a little ice therapy.

 Jim and I working on the fish and bean sauce.

 Karen manning the salad.

 California fresh and delightfully flavorful with a hint of hot pepper dressing.

 The dining room as the salad course was served.

 A look at the Sea Bass resting on the vegetable bed just before we "put the lid on".

 Jim serving the after dinner wine.

Art shot of the day: Sweet tart, sweet wine, and a Sweet time.

Adventure 188: San Elijo Beach/San Diego, CA/Post A

The view from our front room.

Carrying all of the crystal coves in my pockets, we left Laguna Beach about nine thirty. We meandered down highway 101 ignoring Susie GPS's constant nagging imploring us to turn left. Finally, just before we entered Cardiff, CA she finally acquiesced and said San Elijo beach 5.6 miles ahead on the right. And even then we were early. The kindly ranger, a dishwater blond surfer girl at the gate said, "I'm sorry, no exceptions to the two P.M. check in time." No worries. We parked Fric and Frac on a side street and did what all cosmopolitans do, we whiled away a few hours in the local Starbucks, where by the way I took a 1-zip lead in the the current cribbage tournament (Go Timmy, Go). We settled into our site at 2:02 P.M. and frantically readied our mobile home for our visit from the Cramers. We haven't seen our good friends for just under a decade (Eight years to be exact). Amazing, given the amount of time we spent together when they lived in Spokane. They arrived. We drank fine wine, jibber-jabbered to catch up, and then we strolled down the steps to the beach to catch another fabulous sunset. Judy is still feeling the effects of over doing our adventures yesterday, so we merely descended the stairway to the beach, which was less than one hundred steps. We found a kind young lady to take our picture, and then we went back to the trailer where I cooked one of our favorite recipes: seafood pasta. Entertaining in the trailer means one person works and three sit so as not to get in the way. It worked, especially since we were enjoying some excellent wine from the Tablas Creek Winery in Paso Robles. My friend, Jim Cramer, is the kind of  wine guy who brings his own wine glasses. The glasses in which we enjoyed the white wine were even chilled. He is, after all, a man of discerning tastes. It didn't take long for the evening to evolve from good old times to new good times. It's another of the best things about being human. We're all able to store good vibrations, and we're more than willing to call them up on a moment's notice, even after years of separation. Fortunately for us, we plan to enjoy our friends for much of the weekend, so naturally life is good, especially today.

 The back bar at the local Starbucks in Cardiff, CA.

 Free parking just this side of Highway 101.

 Art shot of the day.

 Hot Rod of the Day.

 Fric and Frac snuggled up in site #124.

 Surfer humor, I suppose.

 Three of my favorite people.

 Tablas Creek Grenache; Superb!

 Thanks to the young photo mom who captured us glowing in our retired years.

 Vertical view. Skinny wow!

 Horizontal view. Fat wow!

 "Boy, those guys we married are hot."

 Every wine connoisseur carries his own glasses. 

A Farewell toast to a fine evening.

Adventure 187: Crystal Cove State Park/Post C

Frac somewhere under the rainbow.

The good news is that this particular cribbage battle is all tied up with but one to play. We play for all of the crystal coves tomorrow morning. Today it was mostly overcast, but a very warm seventy-two. Our adventure took us down to the tide pools at low tide. I scampered around looking for urchins while Stumpy sat on a rock looking at the sea. We both had it pretty good, but she thought better of slip sliding around on the freshly exposed sea goop. After we'd enjoyed as much of that as we could stand, we climbed back up the hill trail to the parking lot where we unmounted the tandem. The trail along the bluff runs about ten miles or so back into Corona Del Mar. We rode 2.1 miles, which Stumpy handled quite nicely, although she is rubbing her stump as we speak. For lunch, we stopped at an exquisite California burger stand called Ruby's Shake Shack, which is a garishly yellow clapboard structure perched on the bluff right above the historic beach houses in Crystal Cove. We were lucky to find a parking spot in this little juke joint. The place was jumping! In fact, when we left there was a line of cars waiting to get in. They had just marshaled up in the turn lane off of the East Coast Highway. Now that's a following! We each had a regular beef burger, which comes with home cut skinny fries. Judy had a diet coke. I enjoyed (Immensely) a fresh banana shake. The buns are fresh baked sweet dough. the patty was a quarter pound of beef (Hand formed), and there was some tasty special sauce much like the old Dairy Queen stuff. The burger was neatly wrapped in a wax paper liner so the juices wouldn't flow out. We ordered at the window, and a cute little red headed teen girl brought the burgers to our place along the wooden bar facing the ocean. The whole presentation and preparation hand a strong similarity to burgers served by In and Out, which for those of you who don't know is a FABULOUS burger chain which started near here in Pasadena and now has hundreds of outlets in southern California. While similar, Ruby's burger didn't disappoint in any way. The bill was $24.50 (Gotta love the high rent district). After lunch, Judy rested and I walked the beach (Had to try and burn off the shake). Finally, this evening we enjoyed the spectacular sunset, which we thought quite a gift since this is our last night here. Tomorrow, we head for San Diego for the weekend. We are really looking forward to it because it means we get to spend the weekend with our good friends, the Cramer's who used to live in Spokane. We have traveled with them, cooked with them, played tennis with them, and Jim and I even used to practice tennis before work at 6 A.M. one day a week back in the day. After our normal thin gruel (Oatmeal), we plan to sashay down the coast highway as long as we can before merging with Interstate five. Again, we pray for traveling mercies, and once again gratefully proclaim that life is good, especially today.


 Low tide at Pelican Point.

 Though you can't tell from the photo, this pretty shell is under water.

 Must be why they call it pelican point. They were all over the place.

 There's Stumpy, sitting on a rock just like a pelican.

 We saw this google guy mapping. 

Hot rod of the day (1965 VW Bug).

 My stoker has lost some weight.

 Ruby.

 California burger, much copied, but few live up to this standard.

 Wave shot of the day.

 Navy flying copter/airplane. It looks like an Area 51 contraption.

 Sunset selfie.

 So good, I had to post it twice.

De Ja View.

Adventure 186: Crystal Cove State Park/Post B

Hot off the griddle at Stumpy's Cafe.

I wash dashing toward the finish with the lead safely in hand (Until it wasn't). The dismal headline read: Rallying from Behind: Stumpy Thumps Grumpy. Oh, well, tomorrow is another day.  Because we were out of milk, we diverged from our normal oatmeal for breakfast. Judy fixed a fabulous feast of whole wheat cakes, little weenies, and an over easy egg. Yummy! I did the dishes because he who does not cook has KP. It's a house rule. For our daily adventure, we took in a small walking tour of Corona Del Mar, a quick beach tour of the historic cabins at Crystal Cove, a HIZOO ($$) lunch at Nick's in Laguna Beach, and a grocery run at Ralph's. And then Judy rested her knee while I took a four mile jaunt into the hills behind the campground. While in Corona Del Mar, we looked at some listings posted in the local real estate office (Run by Berkshire-Hathaway incidentally). The cheapest villa listed was $2, 295,000. But I was especially fond of the waterfront place (Pool and seventy foot yacht included) for $14, 995,000. We plan to take it out of petty cash. Surprisingly, there were several small places for rent or lease $2,400/month + water + utilities. They didn't include waterfront, pools, or yachts. We also saw several young moms pushing strollers (I guess they could have been nannies). And to tell you the truth, this part of SoCal isn't really for us. The old beach cottages at Crystal Cove were pretty cool, though. Built in the thirties, they were getaways for the then rich and famous. Now they've been restored, and they're rented out just like Yurts. Laguna Beach is about eight miles or so south of Crystal Cove. It too, has a hillside speckled with glamorous homes. Highway 101 runs right through the downtown core, and the beach is excellent. We asked Trip Advisor for a good reasonably priced lunch joint. It gave us Nick's at two $$. Over three hundred patrons rated it excellent. It was. We had blackened fish tacos, a cup of spicy lentil soup, and an outrageous banana split for dessert (We couldn't finish it). We didn't even consider the main entrees (The appetizers plus the sugar overload satiated us quite nicely). Our bill came to forty dollars with tip. I would send people to Nick's, but I could make 40 quarts of spicy lentil soup for less than forty dollars. I'm not complaining; I'm vacationing. Our waiter was excellent, the ambience was superb, the food was perfectly prepared, and I was dining with a hot babe. What more could a guy ask for? (I tried to get Stumpy to consider one of the skimpy bikinis in a nearby store window, but she wouldn't even let me take a picture of it, so I guess her trying it on was out of the question). Oh well, maybe if she wins a few more cribbage games. Like I saw on one of the young mom's T-shirts: Dreaming is Free. All in all, I'd have to say once again that life is good, especially today.

 The old beach cottages are quaint. Most have dark tongue and groove wood paneling inside.

 Thirties humor. 

 These cottages are literally a stone's throw from the water.

 Almost all have exquisitely kept hanging gardens that have matured with the years.

 A glance from one end of the cottages to the other.

 There's my cute lunch date, right there.

 I have to remind myself that it's January.

 Hot Rod of the day.

 Art shot of the day.

 The public beach at Corona Del Mar. Visitors pay for parking.

 Blackened fish tacos with a cup of spicy lentil soup served with nicely flavored garlic toast.

 Banana split: Fresh home made ice-cream. Home made butterscotch and fudge sauce. Caramelized bananas and almonds. Real whip cream. This ain't you local Dairy Queen, Dewie.

 Our campground as seen from my hike up the canyon. Fric/Frac are just right of the bath house in the middle of the picture.

I went four miles, but someone serious could travel much further. A haven for mountain bikers.