Today is our last full day together. We slept in until 8ish and ate cereal, stuff I brought to avoid the time and cost of breakfast out. We then got into Air VW, the Gray, and headed to Huntington Beach via the Pacific Highway, which runs along the coast for most of the way. We enjoyed the drive through all the beaches and the homes near them. I missed that there was no exit, and we ended up looping on a lovely peninsula. I have to admit, with all the wonderful things to look at, I might have missed a stop sign, and one light was not yellow, but it was a low speed, and nothing bad happened.
We reached Huntington Beach, paid $20 for parking, walked along the beach to the pier, and found a group of local folks selling goods. Jeanne was able to find gifts for most of her family. I found some cards to mail to folks near the pier.
We walked the pier and did not see anything in the water, and, as always, the sign “No Fishing for White Sharks” on the pier was fun to see just above the surfers. There were dozens of surfers, with waves five or more feet tall roaring towards the beach. Often carry, sometimes only for a moment, a surfer forward. Many nice, large waves, to us, were ignored by the surfers to our confusion, but we noticed that those that broke early and turned the sea into foam, which is unlikely to be a positive experience for a surfer. Later, we would see a lifeguard clearing the area of swimmers after an announcement of a dangerous rip current near the piers. Surfers were left alone on the other side of the pier. We could see the foam of the waves flowing backward. Yikes!
Jeanne and I had a deep-fried festival for an early lunch (Jeanne had fish and chips, and I had a pile of industrial clam strips), and Deborah had a moderate-to-poor New England-style clam chowder. This was at Broad Street Oyster Company at the end of the pier.
While on the pier, a salesperson from Herzog-Meijer Volkswagen called to ask about my intentions for Air VW the Gray. I had been, maybe surprised was too kind a word to describe their option of having me get a new car via email, “Turn in your current Volkswagen ID.4 and upgrade to a safer and more reliable vehicle.” I learned that, from the basic valuation, the EV is worth $16,000, plus/minus. I suspect that a low-ball bid.
I also checked their website for a replacement car, and they are offering to let me pay $8,000 in cash and a $ 500+ per month lease for a new ID.4, which is twice what I paid and twice my lease. I have six more months to decide. But I am leaning towards buying it or buying another used EV at a slightly lower price point. Double my costs and outlay, indeed!
But I was nice and told the sales agent that I was unprepared to have the discussion while enjoying the beach in California. He agreed I should focus on the beach, and I recorded his phone number, as we will talk again. No regrets with Evie.
We shopped some more, and I got coffee while more shopping, as my feet were getting sore and my legs were tired. We walked back to the car, which seemed further than our walk towards the beach. I always remember how long it seemed to take to get to the beach at Cape Cod and back to the car when I was small, with Mom and Dad Wild, plus my little sister Linda.
Somewhere in the morning, I slammed my arm into the bathroom door handles, which, while blunt, did tear my skin, and I am sporting a Band-Aid now. Deborah and Jeanne would also tell you that I am sunburned on my head. It has been a glorious week in the sun!
We left the beach and found a used bookstore in the area, Once Read Books, and soon we acquired more used books. The owner, an older man, slightly grumpy, seemed to be the usual fixture of a disheveled used-book store (with boxes of books and yellowing magazines stacked here and there, generally fitting the area or not. Often there is a cat, but not this one. I found a National Archives supplement listing all the logbooks available for Naval ships 1801-1947 for a few bucks. Jeanne and Deborah found some treasured books, too.
Next, we passed Planet Books, and I turned around, and we went there too. Deborah was impressed with their light fixtures and furniture in their fine books section. I found a mystery book for a few bucks, Deborah found a children’s book, which, after promising not to “cut it up,” she purchased from yet-another-old-guy book seller. Jeanne found some more books. There was a sidewalk sale of crafters, but we passed; the folks at the tables, I heard, were surprised by the light turnout (we were not with the town full of World Cup traffic) and seemed desperate to sell us something.
We parked the car at the nearby boardwalk, after some searching for a parking spot (instead of walking for 20 minutes from the hotel in 80+ temperatures). There, we searched for the lock we had left behind. We had engraved our initials in the lock and put it on their railing last March. It has been buried under other locks, and we never found it, but we were happy to return to the spot and believe it was there somewhere.
Our dinner, running about 5:30, was at Parkers’ Lighthouse. We got a table with a view of the Queen Mary and an excellent waiter, Gib, who knew the food, wine, and menu and gave us good advice. It was an expensive meal, but I have paid as much for food that was not as good. The sea bass that Deborah ordered, the daily catch, was fresh and the best we have ever tasted (we shared our fish). Jeanne had the garlic bread burger (we had that on our previous visit, when they were running happy hour) and loved it. We saw a sea lion playing in the water.
After a little more shopping, Jeanne found her last item, and we took the EV on the couple-minute trip to the hotel. There, we returned to our room, found the TV still not connected, and watched the movie Hail Mary in Jeanne’s room. I did some church paperwork while the movie played (I had seen it twice). The hotel gave Deborah $80 credit for our inconvenience, which changed our plans to have breakfast at the hotel instead of cerial (which also meant we could pack everything tonight — which we did).
Tired and now cold from the AC (we figured out how to adjust it on our last night), I went to bed without finishing this blog. I slept until 5:15, thinking it was 6:15, and got going. I slept with dreams about work and having to get some unspecified task done. My usual dreams on a travel (or hotel change) day.
Thanks for reading. It was a marvelous day!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 