Laguna Beach - Day 2 (Huntington Beach)

One of the things I love about California is the nice sea breeze that you get close to the coast that cools down the air temperature over night.  At the end of our first day, we returned to the house we rented and it was a nice cool 87 degrees inside.  Apparently, there was no AC and just some windows to open and fans.  I was quite worried this would be a long trip, but fortunately by the time the kids were going to sleep it had cooled down to a more reasonable 76-77 degrees.  We left the windows open all night, and it was actually quite cool by morning time.

We then decided that it was another beach day, and we were hoping to avoid a repeat experience with the crazy flies.  I, Brent, was somewhat familiar with the area so I suggested heading up to Huntington Beach which was about 25 minute north along the coast.  It is famous for its nice surfing, and I remember it being quite a nice beach as well.  Here we are once we finally got settled in a nice spot next to the Huntington Pier.  The waves were great and, most importantly, you could hunt and keep all the seashells your heart desired.  There was a crazy assortment all over the shallow parts of the shore, and between waves we found tons of sea shells, too.  Gavin was truly in heaven.

After several hours on the beach, we decided to walk out on the pier.  It was actually a lot more stressful than I think either Tara or I would have imagined.  It is quite high above the ocean, and the kids were all about climbing on the railings and sticking their heads through the railings.  These guys, coupled with some fairly windy conditions out that far, was an experience.

One of the highlights of being out there, though, was seeing some remnants of the day's latest catch by some fisherman.  Here is a small sand shark thing that someone left on the cutting board from earlier.  It was still mostly alive, and Gavin was psyched!  Minutes after this picture was taken, we were all witnesses of a sand shark robbery conducted by a sea gull, and the most unfortunate part of the heist was watching the sea cuisine slip out of the sea gull's feet and into the ocean.

The next best thing on the pier was seeing this one-footed sea gull.  It was fairly calm, considering the wild company sitting in front of him.

At the end of the day, I rushed out to get another sunset picture but was just a minute or two late.  However, I think this picture still ended up quite nice.  I love the ocean and miss the times when I used to get to spend each summer with my dad in West LA.