Finally, a Real Beach & a Flat White

After the last few days of travel and go, go, go, we decided to have a restful day around the resort. We started the day with a sleep-in, bacon, egg and Italian sausage breakfast cooked by chef Pe'er, and then a stroll along to the private beach. The water was crystal clear and there were no oil rigs in the distance. This particular resort is located in a bay or inlet area where many little boats/yachts are moored, and where many sculling teams seem to train, which was very interesting (& relaxing from our balcony) to watch.

The private beach wound around to meet a path and road, which we veered off onto, which took us past some beachy shops and then onto the 'real' beach; yes with white sand and real surf. It was clean of rubbish and homeless and stretched as far as the eye could see. There were multiple runners and bike riders on the path and an array of small beach house rentals along to beach edge; a great place to have a holiday. Now before I go further, I should clarify my seeming lack of care for the homeless people. The unfortunate aspect of the homeless in American (from the various people spoken too and many places that we have been) is that apparently most are alcoholic or in need of drugs, and the fact they are homeless is the result of substance abuse. Monetary donations are used to support these habits, and many even say this or write this in their signs; thus my lack of tolerance. However, it has been an excellent opportunity to discuss with Miranda and Hayley the notion of "life choices". But please forgive me for sounding careless and heartless.

We wandered along the warm beach with sand in our toes, but shirts kept on - even though Grant was tempted to strut with all the other young men on the beach, particularly those wearing jeans without shirts (NOT!!). When shopping at our newfound grocery store "Ralph's", the local young lady packing our bags told us of the local amusement park, Belmont Park established in 1951. As such on our way back from the beach we took a little trip through to see the rides and attractions. Even though we will be spending the next few days on multiple roller coaster rides, Miranda and Hayley HAD to have a ride on the wooden (facade) roller coaster called the Giant Dipper. "That was awesome .... we had to go through a dark bit first ..... And I screamed all the way ..... AND we kept coming off the seats and bobbled around cause we were so small .... And those women sitting in front of us screamed all the time and they were your age mum!!!" Needless to say, they seemed to have a good time.

The girls were determined to swim in the pool in the afternoon, and so a quick walk back and change saw the girls were in the water, while Grant Kenny and I jumped on the treadmills (in the room near the pool). Our last few days in America at a hotel in Anaheim (near Disneyland) we don't have a kitchen, thus the need to get a last-minute run in before we head to Pizzaland, Burgerland, and Hotdogland.

Peter's tracking of the weather has been quite spot-on while we have been travelling around, and so his astute sense of the climate was once again exceptional (another talent). His planning for the few days in San Diego:
Day 1 - Zoo - fine and warm
Day 2 - Walk around the beach & resort - fine and warmer with showers coming in overnight
Day 3 - leaving as it will be raining.
And he was so accurate it wasn't funny; we woke up this morning to rain and fog, a great day to leave.

So a quick trip to the gift shop (yes I bought a dress .... ) and we headed to another outlet shopping mall, not for the shopping but for the Starbucks that served an authentic Australian Flat White - it was just new on the menu .... lucky for us. It was so good we had two .... Peter and I will be awake until midnight. Okay so perhaps the shopping was also pretty good; no Asics outlet but plenty of other shops that we hadn't had the time to get to at previous malls. Yes, many malls (in fact nearly all) are literally the same, even the design of the actual shop facades are the same. However, today we actually had time to look around; it was rainy, foggy and we had nowhere else to be, and this was our last, very last chance to shop.....and SHOP we did.

Another WallMart bag purchased, and all shopping is now tucked away for the trip home. Pizza for dinner in the grill bar of our new hotel, and a big rest in preparation for our big day at Disneyland.