Em N Ru: San Clemente Beach

This morning the day started off was foggy and 60 degrees. We took our time getting up, showered and dressed because it didn't seem to be a hurry kind of day. We had breakfast in the room, cold cereal and a few pastries from the "continental" breakfast in the lobby. Fred tried twice to make the hotel coffee palatable but gave up in frustration.

We left the hotel at around 11 to find coffee and decided to also buy a picnic lunch to eat on the beach. The sun was trying to break through and we wanted to make the most of it. The grocery store we stopped at was your typical upscale store like "Market of Choice" in Eugene or "Roths" in Salem. We bought some water, sandwiches, two bags of chips (bbq and french onion) a lemonade and a big coffee for Freddie.

I took a look at the map and suggested we go north to the beach. We tried a few parking lots but none were near a good walking/play beach until we were a bit farther north. I paid the parking fee and we found a picnic spot far enough away from the other beach dwellers to be comfortable making fart jokes. We had just started eating when a Mexican family consisting of 5 young children, their parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents set up their chairs about 10 feet behind us. Their kids ran to the water and they were continually yelling at the kids from behind us...

Warmed by the sun and feeling it was time to move on we changed to water play clothes and went for a stroll down the beach. It was easily two miles to the next lifeguard station and we slowly ambled along. Fred and I holding hands and walking slowly, while Ru darted about trying to get wet/not get too wet from the waves. We let the water run over our feet and unlike Oregon, we didn't get cold!

The beach was rocky in spots with egg sized or smaller rocks. Agates were interspersed with rocks of all colors. It was fantastically beautiful. Above us a flock of brown pelicans would cruise down the beach every so often. Small birds landed and poked long beaks into the sand to find bugs. A family from Las Vegas was standing by the water and Ru began up an instant friendship with a boy about his age. They played the run into/out of the water game until the other boy was soaked and cold, and they left. Ru then buried himself then Fred in the sand.

Around 3pm the cloud cover started to thicken and the warm sand turned cool and we knew it was time to go. We strolled a little faster back to the car. On the way Ruben was caught by a sneaker wave and went down. He quickly caught himself, and was getting himself upright again when Fred lunged for him and lost his sandal. It was quite the comedy. Well I found it amusing.

In the car we helped Ru into dry clothes and came back to our room which had been neatly made up. We all took showers and Fred napped while Ru played video games and I typed this. I think for dinner we are going to go to a restaurant next to a laundromat and take care of two things at once, and tomorrow very early we leave for Redding California, and our last night in a hotel.