We started in San Clemente, a little town that's really just a long T-junction leading down to the beach and a long pier, where the grey evening didn't stop the surfers coming out for some impressive waves.
For token sight-seeing, we stopped off at the oldest of the local Spanish missions, Mission San Juan Capistrano. They finished building a by all accounts impressive church in 1778 - so properly old by local standards - only for it to be mostly demolished 6 years later by an earthquake. Failing to get the hint, they stuck around and at some point put in a nice flower garden, which makes the place scenic if not fascinating.
Newport Beach, best-known as the home of TV's The OC, was a bit of a let-down - nice enough stretch of beach, fairly run-down in the vicinity. Some welcome sunshine, too, so Lilly hired a bodyboard.
We stayed a couple of miles away in downtown Costa Mesa - a strange vision of hell where every road is 4-6 lines wide and nobody goes anywhere without a car. We foolishly walked 4 blocks to find a bar showing what turned out to be the last game of the NHL's Stanley Cup final (pleased to see Chicago win in overtime), and the next night found somewhere much closer to watch the Lakers play in the NBA finals - a much more popular and well-attended event.
Finally on to Huntingdon Beach, probably the best and longest beach, and not for nothing known as Surf City USA - we didn't see surfers on our stretch but the waves and current threw Lilly around when she tried going in. Cloudy when we arrived, which was a good excuse to watch the lunchtime World Cup match (day 1) in one of the many local bars - that brought the sun out for the rest of the day. Miles of beaches out here if that's your thing...
And then for the first time we made the mistake of driving through outer LA in rush hour. Uurgh... 2 more days in greater LA, then on to Boston.
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