Day 378: Dana Point, Aliso Beach & Newport Pier

Dolphins at Aliso Beach

Day: 378  Hike: 412/397
Sunday November 27, 2011
Dana Point

 Dana Point

From the 5 Freeway in San Diego, head north and exit on the 1.  Take this to the ocean and it will become the PCH.  (We exited earlier by San Clemente because holiday traffic heading back was horrible.  The beach town of San Clemente looked cool but we didn't have time so we took El Camino Real along the ocean and met up with PCH.  Eventually, you will reach Dana Point and we turned into the harbor.

 The trail leads out to a cool beach

 Daring kids on the big rock, and on the smaller rock a...

 ...Seal!!!  I guess bookings were full at La Jolla

 Expecting to drive up the hill and follow the coast, we found a trail

 Expecting to drive back to the PCH, we found another trail!

 Green-- Thinking of New Zealand.  We leave in 7 hours!!!

Day: 378  Hike: 413/398
Sunday November 27, 2011
Aliso Beach

 Best Beach for Skin Boarding!

Aliso Beach was a marvelous discovery.  Located in Laguna Beach, the weather could not have been better.  Becareful with your young ones here because the beach slopes under the water quickly but this makes for great breaks and waves to ride.  Ayden and Kaitlyn absolutely loved it.  The beach heads south under the bluffs and oportunistic rock climbers will have a chance.  To the north, the water swells under the highway and into a creek/lagoon area.  We were there for two hours but kept the hiking to about a mile max.  Best part, only $1.00 an hour parking!

Day: 378  Hike: 414/399
Sunday November 27, 2011
Newport Beach - The Pier

My yacht, hmm, forget where I parked this??

 From Laguna to Newport, there are many places to hike and beach.  We noticed some Malibu style hiking trails into the hills/mountains in Laguna and downtown Laguna Beach had many more beaches to explore.  This is one spot I really want to get back to.  We then drove into Crystal Cove State Park but the beach hiking was not welcoming so we quickly drove out.  Finally, we landed in Newport Beach and spent the evening into the sunset there before we finally came home.

Quick Rewind

Day: 377  Hike: 411/396
Saturday November 26, 2011
Del Mar - The Mall

This is a real neat outdoor/indoor mall.  We stopped by for 3 hours into the evening after the long day at Torey Pines.  Yes, an Ice Skating Rink in the mall!  We probably walked an additional 3 miles here.  The actual shopping area is not that widespread but somehow we managed to circle it and the neat outside sorounding area to accumulate the mileage.


Day: 379  Hike: 415/399
Monday November 28, 2011
Arroyo Verde Park

Notice that the "399" stayed the same.  This represents that I hiked on a duplicate trail today.  In fact, all week I did.  Dealing with Month End at work and preparing for New Zealand, I just kept it real with Sammi.

See You when I return from the Shire...