Southern California - June 20 -24

The remainder of our southern California trip was a delight of good food, good people, and ocean time.
On Friday we got Karen out on the water in Dana Point harbor.

Where we met this guy.

But the day was beautiful and the waters calm.

Matthew went to the end of the jetty

and up close to this beauty.

Saturday Cheryl met her Aunt Carol at the San Juan Capistrano train station and went for a great breakfast and then a brief stroll through the Mission. It was great to see her and catch up after so many years.

Meanwhile, Matthew, Rick, and Karen went kayaking in the Back Bay of Newport.

On Sunday Cheryl got to visit with Meagan again - there is never enough time.

Then we had a delicious dinner with Kevin Quinn and got to meet his family in Corona before spending our last night at Rick's house.

On Monday we said our tearful goodbyes and drove to the dealership to drop off cookies to thank them for the terrific service they gave us. Following a much-needed car wash, we went back to O'Neill Park to spend the night since we had so little time there last week. The ranger at the registration desk asked Matthew if he qualified for the "young person's discount'. Took him a second to figure out what she was trying to say; the discount was for those 60 and older. He told her he didn't qualify since he wouldn't be 60 for 3 more days but she gave it to him anyway. His first old man discount!

Dana Point Tidepools - June 19

We are camped on the street outside of Karen and Rick's house this week, giving us lots of time with these friends and offering us a local base to see others. We are so lucky to have friends who are flexible and accommodating! Bonus is the leftovers from Karen's catering business!

Wednesday we explored Dana Point Headlands Conservation Area and its tidepools.

The cliffs don't look like they can withstand anything since they look to be only a composite of rocks and sand.

But we were surprised to see it was more like cement. However, I would not trust it for this.

Cheryl loves tidepools and was happy to find this piece of tube snail colony,

and anemones,

and a muscle cuddling with a chiton,

and gooseneck barnacles

 and lots of crabs.

We also saw lots of other cool things such as this driftwood structure

and pelicans flying over

and lots of rocks

including this which was bored by piddock clams.

 Then there were the flowers.

Just a beautiful place on a beautiful day.

Van Issues - Rancho Santa Margarita- June 16-18

For most of the trip we have been shaking whenever we stepped on the brakes.  It got progressively worse and, anticipating more twisty mountain roads in our future, it was time to take care of it.  A call to the Ford dealership in Rancho Santa Margarita got us a Monday 8:30 am appointment in their Fleet Center (since we are a van RV).

After a relaxing Sunday morning visiting with Rick, Karen, and the boys, we headed to the local laundromat, thinking Sunday afternoons would be quiet. Boy were we wrong, in a very nice way. Two local churches take turns offering free, no questions asked, washing and drying to the area's homeless and/or struggling individuals, complete with detergent and dryer sheets, so the place was packed. It was wonderful to watch this ministry in action and a real reminder that people are good and there are folks actually living their faith.

Our mountain of laundry done and put away, we headed to camp at a site close to the dealership. The place we chose was O'Neill Park, where Matthew camped as a kid with his dad and brothers. What was once out in the wilderness was now surrounded by suburbia, but the park itself was very nice, although we got in too late to really explore.

We found the fleet center in the morning and were fortunate that they had wifi and we had the waiting lounge to ourselves. Matthew proceeded to grade his classes and deal with students while Cheryl caught up on her work emails. Regular updates on the car kept getting worse and worse. Turns out the seals on the rear brakes were put on wrong, causing the brake pads to be soaked with grease and the bearings to not be! They cleaned that all up but it still had a shimmy so they took apart the front brakes and, in doing so, a line connection broke. At this point it was 5:30 and the part had to be ordered so we were stuck. The folks there had been so wonderful to us all day and felt bad that they couldn't get us done in a day so they gave us a loaner, even though we were not under warranty. Cheryl enjoyed driving this with all its bells and whistles.

Tuesday was Rick's birthday so Matthew went off with him for the day to explore while Cheryl caught up on work and chores. 

Just before 5 pm the Ford fleet center finished with the van and Cheryl went to pick it up. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the bill was no higher than the original estimate, despite the 2 full days of labor and the additional issue with the front brakes. The service manager Dan said that the broken line was their fault and if they had diagnosed the issue correctly to begin with (something to do with the ibeam that could wait until we got home to be fixed), it wouldn't have taken so long so that was on them. Wow!

Cheryl went off to meet her daughter, Meagan, for dinner while Matthew celebrated Rick with Karen, Brandon, and Andrew.

San Juan Capistrano - June 15

Left Riverside and met my cousin, Megan, and her adorable baby, Ava, for lunch. It was great to see them although it wasn't long enough. but schedules didn't work out to hook up again during our time in Southern California.

After saying goodbye to family, and passing the dueling protests (the Trump protesters were a larger group but we couldn't get a shot of the other two corners they occupied) we headed south. 

We couldn't resist stopping in Placentia to see if the venue where we got married was still there. It was! (although they had bricked in the side yard where we had exchanged our vows).

More Jacarandas.

And seven lanes of traffic.

Arrived at Rick and Karen's in time to join the party celebrating Justin and Katie's engagement. Such a fun couple and it was wonderful to see everyone again.

Diane and Bill never age.

The adorable couple.

Love this family!

Dick and Ginger hamming it up.

It was a wonderful evening and celebration.