Exploring the Pacific Coast

Though ominous grey storm clouds began rolling in as we clambered into our rental car, we were determined to beat the rain and start exploring the Pacific coastline. The weather was very windy and cold today, so we had layered up to brave the sea breezes we might encounter. The drive along the Pacific Coast Highway was gorgeous: the thick clouds descended upon the highest hills and mountains and created a misty fog, covering the villas in the high altitude on one side of the road. On the other, the vast sea stretched out, and we were sometimes able to see beautiful beaches off of cliffs as we drove by. We decided to make a stop at one of these beaches, since it wasn't really raining and the beach just looked so lovely.

It was extraordinarily windy on the beach, but we had a really nice time walking along the sand and watching the birds and huge waves crash onto the sand. Hanaa took some incredible pictures!

We continued driving and found a small, hidden park off the highway called Central Bay Point Park, situated on the edge of a cliff. It was starting to rain a little bit, but we couldn't pass up an opportunity to see even more fabulous beach views from the high cliffs. This peaceful little park was a hidden jewel! Orange flowers surrounded the walkways and hummingbirds fluttered around right in front of us. On one side of the protruding park we saw the edge of the cliff and a small stretch of rocky beach at the very bottom. On the other, we saw another beach nestled in an alcove of the Californian shore. Despite the rain, the views made up for the wet weather, as they seemed to do a lot!

See the hummingbird with the pink head?

View of the steep cliff and rocky beach at the base.

 

View of the other side from the park!

After enjoying a few more beaches along the Pacific Coast Highway, we came across small villages such as Newton and Irvine. There were cute little boutiques and restaurants, all with an ocean front view. We stopped around 1:30pm to eat lunch at a small Japanese restaurant with extremely hearty portions near Balboa Road called FujiYama. Zaynee got her "authentic" California sushi rolls on our very first day in the state, so she was happy! 

Enjoying our Japanese food.

Once we finished up, we started to make our way down the Pacific Coast Highway, back to where we came from. The storm clouds were still hanging above us, but were punctuated with spots of blue sky and bright sun. Dad turned into Island Shopping Center, which was a giant mall with surprisingly beautiful and clean aesthetics. I've noticed that almost everything and everywhere here in California is absolutely clean: all the beaches, the highways, the sea, the villages, the mall. I really like that about the Laguna Beach area! I hope it's similar around the rest of the state. Anyway, we decided we wanted to see "Les Miserables" in cinema. Apparently Island Cinema was very popular, because almost every movie time for Les Mis and a few other movies were completely sold out! We consoled ourselves by raiding the racks at Urban Outfitters and Bloomingdale's before continuing down the Pacific Coast Highway.

Dad has always loved watching the sun set, and he loves it even more when he can watch it from the beach. So, our next stop, around 5pm, was in a quaint little village just by the Laguna Beach area with a spectacular beach to watch the sun set on. As it sank lower and lower, we walked farther and farther along the beach. We were some of the only ones there, and it was very relaxing!

Sunset on the beach.

Hanaa loves getting her picture taken!

Back in the town, all the holiday lights had turned on and made the place look so adorable. Too bad the Scandinavian Bakery called "Scandia" that Hanaa and I decided to try an eclair that was absolutely foul. It would have been too perfect an excursion in the town otherwise!