Trips to California have become a summer tradition since moving to Vegas. Apparently so have trips to Huntington beach; all of those beaches to choose from and we wind up at the same spot, a lovely spot, certainly, but this year I was determined to branch out and explore a different stretch of the coast. I've heard rave reviews about Newport beach, so we found a hotel that put us more in that direction. We packed our beach bags, donned our swimming gear and headed for Newport, planning on a nice long day of checking out a different beach and walking the pier.
We arrived in Newport and immediately began to look for a parking spot. Parallel spaces lined the streets...all of which were taken. Not discouraged we continued on, finding the beaches official car park. It was jam packed. Still undeterred, we did a loop from the main street to the car park, convinced that someone would leave and we could swoop in on their space. It was 10 am. After about fifteen loops it dawned on us that people probably weren't going to be leaving any time soon.
Plan B was to hit up the residential neighborhoods and just do a little walking. No matter how far from the beach we ventured, the streets were completely lined with cars...and in the rare places that were free there was a big red curb letting us know we better keep looking. Back to the main drag, more loops of the car park, more coasting up and down main street. No spaces.
At this point it was approaching lunch time. Charlotte had fallen asleep in the car and Mum and I had given up on an adventure at the overly popular Newport Beach. We couldn't help but notice the signs indicating that Huntington was just a few miles away; nice, quiet, familiar, Huntington. We gave in to the inevitable. The highway got us there in a few minutes, we were parked in a couple more. Thankfully, without further ado, we were playing in the sand and finally enjoying the sea just a few moments later. And, since the rest of the world was living it up at Newport we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Popularity is overrated!
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