While we were down in California last week visiting Disneyland, we took one day and made a side trip. On the spur of the moment we decided to rent a car. We drove from Anaheim over to the Newport Beach area. We stopped at Huntington Beach State Park and at Crystal Cove State Park. It was cool and overcast and breezy and we had the beaches mostly to ourselves. It was the first time that our girls had been to the ocean. Huntington was a long open sandy beach. There were lifeguard stations reminiscent of Baywatch, although they were all closed down for the season. There were lots of shorebirds, gulls and pelicans.
After spending a little time there we headed further south to Crystal Cove. It included a small preserve of desert habitat on the bluffs overlooking the ocean. There were Prickly Pear Cactus, and we saw a Roadrunner as well as a Falcon. There were supposed to be rattlesnakes in the area, although we didn't see any. We hiked across the bluff area and down some stairs to the beach. Down below there were some rocky outcrops. The tide was still out when we arrived and the girls were able to explore the tide pools and the driftwood. We found anemones, hermit crabs and lots of shells. The sun even broke out briefly allowing me to take a few photographs in beautiful light. It made me wish that I had a larger camera with me. I did manage to shoot a little black and white film with my 35mm Contax. I hope to find time to process some of that film this week and I'm hopeful that there is something worth printing.
Unfortunately our time was limited. Soon the tide was starting to come in and the day was coming to an end. We had to pack up and drive back to our hotel room in Anaheim.
No comments:
Post a Comment