SoCal: Day 2, Newport Beach

I slept in on Friday morning, which was much needed after such a busy Thursday. After a shower and shave I met up with Shok and Mary and we headed to the beach. I asked my SoCal Twitter friends for a recommendation and I decided on Newport Beach. It was the easiest to get to, which I liked. After stopping for coffee as well as swinging by the local sports shop (where I picked up a Ducks t-shirt and a few coozies ;) we hopped on the 5 to the 55 and out to the coast. I saw the name “Balboa” a lot in that area, which kept reminding me about Arrested Development. There’s always money in the banana stand.

We made it out to Newport Pier and parked the car. We walked onto the Pier to check it out. There were a lot of (presumably) local fisherman on the pier, and it was cool to watch them reel and catch…not so much to watch them clean. One lady, while reeling in her catch, yelped and started frantically reeling. Turned out a loose seal was trying to go after her fish. It would have been amazing to see her hook and pull up a seal.

We walked back to land and checked out a few local stores. Shok bought some flip-flops and we fed the meter, and then had lunch. There was a little seafood joint on the beach, and I had fish and chips…very tasty. After lunch we checked out the beach some and walked along, dipping our feet into the Pacific. We worked our way back to the car and fed the meter one last time, then walked along the beach the other way toward a rock jetty. We went and stood on the jetty for a while and spotted a seal swimming in the surf with the other surfers. The seal was actually surfing, catching waves and flipping over and playing. I can now see why sharks often mistake surfers for seals….they looked very similar in the surf. Well, except for the giant surfboards attached to their ankles. We walked back to the car and made our way back to the hotel to prepare for the game: Ducks vs. Devils!