A Day at the Beach...Frump Style

We had a rare extra day off last week due to the Holiday weekend, and so took time out to go visit some friends in Huntington Beach, CA.

Now we'd been to the coast and other beaches plenty of times before, but never to that particular beach.

Boy, were we in for a treat.

Upon approaching the pier at Huntington Beach, it appeared to be constructed of toothpicks wood, and out at the very end of the pier, that red roof tops a SoCal chain restaurant called Ruby's.



Which was convenient, because we were hungry travelers, and I had a hankering for the chicken salad I remembered from that restaurant years ago.

While walking along the pier, I realized it didn't feel quite so rickety as I'd first thought. About midway down, we looked down and saw a large group of teenagers running quickly from under the pier, most wearing yellow swim caps. Turns out it was Lifeguard Camp.



Ruby's restaurant is a two-story affair, built on the very end of the pier. Naturally, the boys wanted to sit on the uppermost deck. The view from there was great, though I still felt a little nervous about the whole toothpicks-holding-it-all-up aspect of dining there.

Especially after seeing signs posted along the beach, "Tsunami Zone. In Case of Earthquake, move immediately to higher ground."

Judah had no fears whatsoever. That thin pane of plexiglass between him and the ocean gave him confidence enough to stand up in the window sill, lean against it and stare down at the water below. Way, way far below.



I was disappointed that they no longer carried my favorite salad on their menu, so I was forced to order something else.

Sorry, Jenster and Deb, I was remiss in taking pics of the food. (In case you haven't caught on yet, remiss is my word of the month.)

So a couple of bites in to my fish taco, I glanced out at the water just past Jericho and saw something that very nearly made me choke. I was gesturing wildly towards the window so my family would look outside.

"Daw-phins!!" Judah called out. And it was! Arcing perfectly in and out of the water.

They were so playful, frolicking about in the waves, feeding on the schools of mackerel that the fisherman were pulling out of the water left and right on our way to Ruby's.

In our excitement, this was the best photo we were able to take of the event (double-click to enlarge). However, as a bonus, if you look in the upper right corner, there is what appears to be a ghost ship on the horizon. Jericho called it "The Black Pearl". (It may actually have been an oil rig. There are also a few of those in the area.)



Here we have a flock of pelicans. It was fun to see them out on the ocean for once.

Pelicans must not have the best sense of direction, because they occasionally get lost and end up way out in our desert, far far from the ocean. We've seen the pour souls on the lakes in our area, no doubt wondering what happened to the plentiful supply of ocean fish and the clean ocean breezes they are accustomed to.



After our lunch, we exited the restaurant and walked around the building, hoping to spot more dolphins out in the waves.

Judah had a very healthy fear of getting too close to the edge. "I don' wanna go wif da sharks."



However, when we saw this guy, he did get a tad bit closer to get a better look. Though he kept looking up occasionally where fisherman would toss him a bait fish, this was the best photo I got of the our pinniped friend.



Along with all the wildlife, you can't go to SoCal beaches without seeing a few of these guys.





Oh, and remember how I said the restaurant looked like it was held up by toothpicks?
I felt much better after going below the pier. It kinda looks like a freeway overpass from that angle.



Judah couldn't wait to get into the water.









Of course, after spending half the day in the surf and the sand, someone needed a thorough hosing down before we headed back to the car.



On the way back to the parking garage that afternoon, we passed by this staircase which both boys found irresistable.

Jericho was able to slide from top to bottom down the handrail.



Naturally, little brother had to emulate him, but ended up having to settle on the safer arms-around-the-handrail version.



While in the general area, and after having worked up an appetite playing at the beach all day, we headed for Downtown Disney.

Along the way we saw some very interesting signs.

This one for a restaurant that served a rather odd combination. As a former student of Graphic Design, I feel that these sorts of pairings are just wrong.

Or maybe that's because I don't go into a crawfish joint intent on a pile of live crawfish and think, "Ahhh...if only I had a funnel cake for dessert, my culinary dreams would be complete!"

And yet, there must be a market for it, because there it is.



This one, however, totally took the cake. In fact, we saw it at a passing glance and had to turn around the block to get a picture of it.



Exactly what kind of a watering hole is this, anyway? I'm thinking the whole vampire thing has gone a bit too far...

I was relieved when we finally got to Anaheim.

I love all the details that Disney puts into everything, even into externals like the landscaping around the parkways leading to Disneyland and the restaurants in Downtown Disney (for you out-of-towners, that's an area outside of Disneyland that you can get into for the great shopping and restaurants, without the hassle of all the rides, lol.)

I'm SO stealing this idea for a thrift-store makeover of a shelving unit. Love those ornamental pieces along the top of the shelving.



And this yummy restaurant which we only just tried out for the first time...The Jazz Kitchen. It was a bit on the pricey side, but the ambience and service were great, and the food was delicious.
This was a view into the restaurant from where we were seated on the patio, which looks a little like New Orleans. I loved what they did with the lighting and those parasols and umbrellas. Way cute.



As usual, the boys entertained us throughout the meal.





Everyone agreed it was perhaps our new 'favorite' restaurant. Both the soup (a delectable french onion with a red-wine reduction) and salad were fantastic, but Jeff's steak was what everyone seemed to enjoy most. Perfectly cooked and loaded with flavor...and cut like, well, like buttah.

The meals being three courses, left us with lots of leftovers.

On the way home, Jeff commented that nobody, but NOBODY better lay a finger on his leftover steak in the morning.

Alas, the child responsible for bringing it into the house forgot to put it in the fridge, and our house languished all night with 100 degree temperatures and still no A/C...which meant that our dog Raisin got a delightful gourmet meal of tantalizing steak the next morning.