Seal, Huntington and Newport Beaches... and Finding Trader Joe's!

The day we selected to visit the beach was not a good one. Too much wind and cool temperatures even though the sun was bright. We made the best of it, picnicing in the car instead of the beach where the sand was blowing much too hard for us to sit out.  We weren't terribly dissappointed as our "beach" days are long since behind us.

The waves were strong and it looked like a good day for wind surfing. The photo above is at Huntington Beach Pier. A guy from there is some kind of national hero as he's been surfing champion for ten straight years.  Nearly everybody has a surfboard strapped to their vehicle and there's a surf shop on almost every corner.

Our best discovery on this day was Trader Joe's.  Although we have lived in so many different places, we never had seen -- much less been in one of their stores, but on this day we stopped for a look.  A friend we met in Yuma, Arnette, told me how much she liked Trader Joe's.  I ran in to get treats for Lexie and came out with butter & pistaschio cookies, sourdough bread, and pretzels too.  All were terrific and we are fans of Trader Joes's.  We enjoyed snacking all the way back to Rancho Jurupa that afternoon.  I took this picture of the green mountainous terrain as we drove.