As soon as we entered into the California mountains we fell in love with the weather. After a bit of confusion and a few u-turns we found the Blue Jay Campground in the Cleveland National Forest nestled between the Santa Ana and the Elsinore Mountains. The road getting into the campground is a winding, unpaved road with beautiful views of Lake Elsinore.

     We made ourselves at home at our first California campground. Marc was in need of a haircut so he visited the Salon at Campsite # 5. 

We stopped by a wonderful breakfast spot in San Juan Capistrano on our way to Laguna Beach the next morning. Here Marc had "the most delicious bagel ever", jalapeno and cheese. Mine was quite tasty as well.

Finally we made it to the coast! Laguna Beach is a beautiful beach town with fine, white sand and clear, blue water that seems to stretch on forever. 

We met up with our friend Robert "Bobby" (ha ha) at his condo right up from the beach. 

We took some time to enjoy the perfect weather.

It is difficult to not envision ourselves living here one day.

                    

There is a bird at the corner of Robert's street that whistles at every beach-goer that walks by. Although he does tend to hold the note a bit longer for the ladies.

Robert was a wonderful host. He showed us around town and treated us to a delicious dinner at Asada.

Chuck, John, Marc, myself, and Robert

       We were able to enjoy some of the locals' hangouts in Laguna. Robert was even gracious enough to give us a real bed to sleep in for the night! What a treat!

After all the excitement, we needed a day of relaxation. We visited Huntington Beach to take advantage of their off-leash dog beach. Lucy and Max had a blast! 

 That night we were, after some haggling and lots of driving up and down the Pacific Coast Highway, able to snag a tent spot at Crystal Cove State Park. At $50 a night the price was a bit rich for our blood, but you can't argue with the view from the campground. 

 We enjoyed our first West Coast sunset from our
camp chairs that night.

The next day we visited Marc's second cousin Joy in Newport Beach. She had us aboard her impressive 53 foot boat for lunch and a great afternoon of conversation.

Marc practicing his Captaining skills in the pilot house of the boat.

    

Marc and Joy

From Newport that day we had plans to travel up the Pacific Coast Highway a bit North of Los Angeles so we could visit some family friends of Marc's the following day. This is the point in our trip where our "fly by the seats of our camping pants" attitude came back to bite us. It became rapidly apparent that Californians spend much more time planning their camping trips than we had become accustomed to. It seemed as though every campsite from Laguna Beach to San Fransisco had been booked six months ago. Having camped in National Forests (where reservations are almost never accepted) for the majority of our trip, this was a foreign concept to us. By ten o'clock last night, somewhere along the Pacific Coast Highway, we were exhausted and out of options and we gave into a Motel 6. 

Today with a renewed sense of enthusiasm we are heading North to hopefully land a spot at the coveted Kirk Creek Campground in Los Padres National Forest. This campground, while it does reserve some spots, still holds a few for first-come first-served. 

We realize we may arrive to the disappointment of a full campground, but with fingers crossed... Northern California here we come!!