Surf City – Part II

    Kites flying in the constant ocean breeze.

    Saturday we awoke from a delicious sleep, made possible by the ocean breezes wafting into our room. Needing fuel for our various adventures for the day, we headed down to The Californian (and their amazing breakfast buffet) to meet Toni Purry and her husband Lester . After feasting on omelettes, mini waffles, oatmeal, fresh fruit, yogurt and assorted breakfast meats (there was more food than listed – this is just what I ate!) we decided we were ready to face the day. Mylan and I had reservations for bike rentals from Toes on the Noes and Solvay and Evan were headed to the beach for some quality boogie boarding time.

    We were greeted by the friendly workers at Toes on the Nose  and after a brief consult about the bikes, we hit the road.  We crossed PCH and made our way to the path that runs parallel to Huntington Beach. Now I am what you would call coordinationally-challenged so there was a lot of close calls as we rode along trying to avoid pedestrians, other bikers, skateboarders and random toddlers. As we neared the pier it only got worse.

    Mylan in front of some beachside housing.

    We managed to navigate through the crowds and when we reached the other side we rode for awhile at street level enjoying the houses that are taller than they are wide. We decide that since we had a bike lock, we could turn around and park the bikes and walk around downtown Huntington Beach. When we got close, we dismounted, locked the bikes and headed into the crowd. As we walked up the steps to the pier, a strange sight caught our eye – amidst the Chihuahuas and Yorkies being toted around, a girl was actually carrying a cat! A cat with a harness on, heading towards the beach. Needless to say, the kitty wasn’t too happy! We strolled along the pier, stopping

    Ruby's Diner at the end of the pier.

    briefly to watch a surfing contest and then headed downtown. There was a chili contest going on, so the streets were blocked off and lots of tents were set up with vendors and their wares. We perused most of the jewelry vendors and bought some trinkets as souvenirs. We walked up and down Main St and decided that we would start to head back to the Hyatt. On our way back to the bikes, we saw a pizza delivery bike, passed by a band performing a concert for a nice-sized crowd and saw some street performers. Back on the bikes we

    A pizza bike!

    maneuvered our way back through the crowd until we spotted the stand selling the frozen bananas. We had to stop and partake of the treat – with both nuts and sprinkles! Our sweet craving satisfied, we had the strength to make it the rest of the way down the beach and back to return the bikes – without hitting a single thing – or person!