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| Is this thing the Table Rock? |
Newport Beach: I embarked upon the trip with low expectations and emerged a convert. How great could four days and three nights be in SoCal in winter? What the heck is there to do out there?
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| Whale watched. |
Well, according to Groupon, plenty! I learned that I could Segway tour, Jetpack, watch whales, get my nails done, watch the sunset, and eat on the cheap-ish. I ultimately purchased three Groupons prior to heading west: a whale-watching cruise, a sunset cruise and a dining Groupon to Woody's Wharf. While we ended up having to cancel the whale watching tour, which would have had us out on open water, we did manage to see plenty of whales, dolphins, sea lions, and a skate from the shore.
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| Sea lion. |
We booked a room at the Little Inn by the Bay, which had equal numbers of terrific and terrible reviews. They ranged from "The horror, it's next to a liquor store!" to "This place is fantastic, it's next to a liquor store!" While the hotel was close to the restaurant district, at over $200 a night on Hotels.com, I was leaning towards a nicer looker, but less walkable Holiday Inn. By chance, we found the same hotel on Priceline for $50 less per night and ended up taking a gamble on the Little Inn by the Bay.
SO GLAD WE DID! This little place was awesome. Yes, it looks like a motel on the outside, and there is no free breakfast, but other than that, I couldn't have asked for more. (Ok, maybe a better laid out bathroom, but really, that's it.) The linens weren't rough, the towels were new, there was a fridge and microwave in the room, and the AC worked. There were free bikes. The Inn was a block and a half from the beach. The water pressure was strong and the water was hot. I will definitely be back. Ok, enough with the hotel accolades. What did we do, see and eat?
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| The pass at The Crab Cooker |
Thursday: After four flight delays that threatened to leave me despondent in Dallas, I finally arrived in Huntington Beach at around 3:30 pm. I got a free upgrade from National, and was soon tooling around HB in a cute little white hybrid Passat. This took getting used to, because every time the car went silent, I feared that I had stalled out. We ended up catching the sunset on the beach and grabbing drinks and some ceviche at Sandy's. Great start! After our snacks, we headed south towards our hotel in Newport Beach, passing by a giant Woody's Diner (not Woody's Wharf of Groupon fame..), and locating our hotel. It was, as the reviews promised, right next to a liquor store and across the street from a donut shop. We threw on some evening attire (flip flops and a tank top) and decided to explore the area. Not two blocks away from the hotel, we stumbled upon Woody's Wharf! All in all, we got a seat by the window, the waiter was great, the food was decent, but nothing to write home about. We grabbed some drinks at the "liquor store" on the way back to the hotel. It was basically any gas station convenience store you'd find with two refrigerated cases in the back. It wasn't at all the alcoholic gathering place certain TripAdvisor reviews led me to believe.
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| Bluewater Grill's bar menu. Don't stray from it! |
Friday: Headed out by foot to find The Stuft Surfer, a place recommended for it's authentic burrito-type fair. On the way there,we stumbled across one of the must-eat places, The Crab Cooker, and decided to change course. Unfortunately, we were there half an hour before they opened. Back to Plan A it was. Unfortunately, we were there too early for anything other than breakfast food. We grabbed a frozen cappucino, some pictures, and headed back to the Crab Cooker. At the Crab Cooker, we had some soft shell crabs, some fish(?) and some Dungeness crab. I couldn't convince the waitress to give me the shell with the tomalley inside though. :(
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| 82 during the day, chillier at night. |
Afterwards, we headed to Balboa Peninsula where we caught a ferry to Balboa island and dreamed about retirement. After some strolling and FitBit step accumulation, we headed down to the NB pier to catch the last moments of the sunset and to game plan for dinner. Unfortunately, our trip's proximity to Valentine's day meant that most restaurants were packed. We did manage to get into the Bluewater Grill, near Lido. The meal started off strong with a fantastic Tuna Poke and Fanny Bay Oysters, but the entrees were lackluster. I ended up sending back a red snapper that tasted and felt suspiciously like a much oilier cod. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to get changed for some harbor watching.
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| Birdlife at Mozambique. |
Saturday: Laguna Beach, Table Rock Beach, Mozambique, magical delicious peri-peri sauce, exotic birds. funnel cake, biking on the boardwalk, free drink and chips at Sharkeez, oysters at Oceanfront 21. Strolling under the stars. Soundtrack: Coldplay's Yellow.
Sad, sad Sunday: With a noon flight, we didn't have time to see much, and our early flight meant we'd have to miss the HB brunch we'd been contemplating. AYCE king crab? Yes please, next time! We ended up at a well-rated local breakfast joint called My Galley where I grabbed a lox bagel to eat on the beach and horsed around in the lifeguard stands. Also, a lime popsicle for the road at a small grocer next door.
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| Best bagel backdrop I've experienced. |
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| 8/10 on the form... |
