Thursday, January 14, 2010

Surf City, U.S.A. and Beyond

2 new "Followers" have shown up on my blog!!!  How great is that?  I would like to officially say WELCOME AND THANK YOU to Fred and also to Phil and Debi Olson for signing on.  I hope you will leave a comment or two and let me know what's on your mind.

Before we left the Orange County, California area we wanted to take a drive by a couple of great beaches.  We packed a lunch, put Annie the Schnauzer in the car, and off we went.  Huntington Beach was our first destination.  This city has a beach 8 1/2 miles long and it is world famous as a great surfing beach.  Oil was discovered here many years ago, but most of the wells are depleted by now.  You can still see the odd pumping unit around the city.

We drove west straight toward the ocean and before long we were in Huntington Beach....otherwise known as "Surf City, U.S.A."  The coastal highway is the Pacific Coast Highway.

It was a little hazy, but we didn't care, we were used to this kind of weather from our 40+ years of living in the area.  We could see the Huntington Beach pier even through the hazy marine layer.


Beach houses abound as this is the perfect place to live for some people.


They wanted $15.00 to park in the City of Huntington Beach lot, but we found a parking meter at the curb and put in our 50 cents.  We ate our lunch looking out at the water and it was great.  There is a bike,walking,jogging path that goes for miles along the beach. 

After walking Annie after lunch, we packed ourselves into the car and continued driving a little bit further north on the coast highway to Seal Beach.  Seal Beach is just south of Long Beach and it's major employer is the Boeing Company.  It was a fairly short drive and we easily found a parking place at the curb across the street from the beach.  We walked out onto the Seal Beach pier, which is the second longest wooden pier in the state (following the pier in Oceanside).  Ruby's Restaurant sits at the end of the long pier.

You can see offshore oil drilling platforms from the end of the pier.  A few times when we had our business here, Bruce flew out to these platforms in a helicopter.

There were a few surfers trying to catch a wave while we watched.


As in all wonderful and beautiful places, homes line the beach front and I'm sure their owners enjoy the beach life here.

It was soon time to head back to the busy town of Anaheim and our RV home.  Nice place to visit....but I don't want to live around here anymore.

Until next time.......so long for now!


6 comments:

Sue and Doug said...

great looking beaches!!!..looks like you all had a great day!

Jerry and Suzy said...

Nice beaches for sure, if you don't like rugged coastlines such as you have in Washington and Oregon and northern California. We are not lovers of SOuthern California, so we'll let you enjoy and show us what you have found. That makes it a lot easier for us to enjoy! Thanks for sharing.;

Rick said...

Wow! $15 to park, glad you found a 50 cent place. I've been to Huntington Beach and it is indeed a beautiful place - I remember walking out on the pier too. Thanks for the pics and the memories.

Happytrails said...

Oh Margie, what a beautiful area! We will definitely put this beach and area on our places to visit list. Thanks so much for sharing with us.

Glad you all had such a wonderful day.

Hugs,
Mike and Gerri

Sunni said...

Hello and thank you for the grand welcome. We enjoy your blog and all the insight of the places you visit.
Looking forward to each day of your new adverntures.

Phil and Debi Olson

Phyllis said...

AHHH, It feels good to get caught up on dear friends. Glad you are having good weather now and enjoying the sights.