Easter in Laguna

 Thursday, April 14, 2022 - We hopped on an early morning flight to California and Elaine picked us up at 11:30, so we had all afternoon/evening to enjoy hanging out with Elaine (who was on spring break, the first one in quite a few years!).  The house that Elaine & Ian are renting is so cute and only about 4 blocks to the beach.  They did a really great job cleaning up this cute little cottage, and it sure feels like home.  We enjoyed the ocean views from both the back yard and the front porch.  

477 Pearl St

The covered area looking out to the back yard

The living room looking out to the porch and spare bedroom that they are using as an office/den

The ocean view off in the distance

A walk down to the ocean

Cute little kitchen with a window view out to the back yard

tomatoes, zinias, and peppers in the pots

Yummy pasta dish in the back yard

The Greenes doing the dishes

Love that fireplace!

Nice corner window in their bedroom

We had a fire in the fireplace and birthday cake to celebrate Elaine's 30th birthday 2 weeks ago

Happy Birthday Elaine!

Friday, April 15, 2022 - Kev and I were still on East coast time, so we enjoyed an early morning walk around Laguna.  Elaine and Ian used to live on the other side of town, so it was fun to have a new part of town to explore.  We then drove up to a beautiful city park that has 5 pickleball courts and played a few games of pickleball.  After lunch we went to Woods Cove for an afternoon on the beach, then dinner with Ian's parents Todd & Laurie.

love this doorway to a little shop we found on our morning walk

Each beach has a completely different entryway.  I had to take a pic of every one we passsed.

 

All the beaches have a bunch of steps!

Another nice beach

Wouldn't you like to live on Ocean Way?

Yay! Elaine found us at another overlook.

Laguna is giving us a Spring preview

We love to play pickleball wherever we go.

Great views from this city park

more views

beautifully landscaped in between the pickleball and tennis courts

Another sunny day!

A seal popped his head up at the beach

Cali girl

we spent a lot of time on this front porch

Saturday April 16, 2022 - We took another morning walk along the beach and today we saw whales and dolphins, really close to the shore.  After our walk, it was more pickleball and then lunch out near Sawdust and a few beers and games of Qwixx, next door at the Laguna Beach beer company. We walked down to the beach for the sunset and facetimed with Meg & Maddy.  The Easter bunny brought everyone the game of Qwixx, so we got a quick game in with Meg & Maddy, which made it almost feel like they were in Cali with us.

Another beautiful ocean view

We think these were gray whales swimming by

You can see a few dolphins swimming with the whales

lemons and loquats from Elaine and Ian's back yard

Elaine jumped in and played pickleball with the Saturday morning pickleball group

Qwixx and beers

We taught Meg and Maddy how to play Qwixx

Sunset on Pearl St

The Greenes

We love sunsets at the beach

pink ocean

Sunday April 17, 2022-  Our last day, but we'll be back!  We did another beach walk before we had to head to the airport.  We sure love those Laguna beaches.  Elaine & Ian are lucky to live in such a crazy beautiful spot.

 

lots and lots of stairs

We walked through the grounds of the Montage, what a beautiful spot

looks like paradise to me

Good byes and off to the airport

The Long Beach Airport

We got to wait for boarding outside, enjoying our last few minutes in the sun, with our masks off

 

Last Few Days in Florida...

 Tuesday, March 29, 2022 - We rode our bikes to Campbell Lake and then hiked the Deer Track Trail to the Morris Lake Trail.  It was a 3 mile round trip hike on a lot of soft sand.  We had a picnic along the way, and enjoyed the bike ride back to the campsite on the Campbell Lake bike trail (we sure use that trail a lot!).  Then Kev and I decided to make it a triathlon- day and we swam some laps in the campground pool.

Deer Track Trail

Eric birding

lots of soft sand, makes for a challenging hike on the Morris Lake Trail

I love the boardwalks

Cypress trees

campground pool

We found a no bake key lime pie mix that was soooooo good!

Yum yum

Wednesday, March 30, 2022 - We rode our bikes to the beach and enjoyed an early morning walk.  The double red flag was up, saying that no one was allowed in the water.  After the beach we did a 2 mile hike on the Gopher Tortoise Trail to the Turpentine Trail.  These trails were hard packed sand, so it was a much easier hike than yesterday.  After lunch we biked the Timpoochee Trail to Pecan Jack's ice cream.

Double red flag day

The park has done controlled burns and it's fun to see the bright green new growth in among the charred ground

Turpentine Trail

The much used Campbell Lake Bike Trail (which is shared with a beach tram)

Cheers to great ice cream

Thursday, March 31, 2022 - We walked to the beach this morning (2 miles round trip).  I love a cloudy gray beach day, it makes for some great pics.  In the afternoon we walked to the camp store for ice cream and a game of shuffleboard.  For dinner we went to Stinkey's Fish Camp.  We've ridden our bikes by there and it's always crowded so we figured it must be a good spot.

the rain is coming

Short hike to No Name Lake

Some type of lichen, maybe Reindeer Lichen?

why did the turtle cross the road?

The campground shuffle board

  We had fun talking to these new Nova owners who were also camping at Topsail.

Dinner at Stinkey's Fish Camp, lots of great seafood options (and steak for me)

A few pics on the lake behind Stinkey's

Friday, April 1, 2022 - Our last day!  We decided we needed one more morning fishing on Campbell Lake.   It wasn't quite the best day for me, but at least the guys could try to catch up.  Kevin had a monster day, with at one point, 5 casts yielding 5 fish.  After lunch we took the tram to the beach and enjoyed a few hours on the beach.  After a quick dinner we packed up and drove 5 hours to the Guy Hunt rest stop in Alabama to break up the 12 hour drive home.  This rest stop was where we spent the first night of this trip two and a half months ago!

ready for some fishing?

beautiful morning on the lake

We love to fish!!

Kevin was HOT today!

Last beach day

We were right under the flight path of a nearby Naval base.  It's been fun to watch them fly overhead all day in all sorts of aircraft.

The beach parking lot was full 

We decided to be lazy and try the Topsail tram 

So sad to be leaving Florida, but we sure had a GREAT time.  So glad we got to spend two weeks camping with Ann and Erich!

Saturday, April 2, 2022 - We woke up early this morning and got back on the road...should be home by 1:00. We have to rest up and get ready for our weekend trip to visit Elaine and Ian in a week and a half.  Hard to believe it's only 2 months until we leave for Alaska and we just heard this morning that Canada is loosening it's requirements for visitors...Alaska here we come!!

Last sunrise of the trip

The rocket at the Huntsville, AL welcome center.