A Quick Trip West

Last Sunday, Chris and I drove out west to visit Blythe.  Ha!  Just kidding.  Blythe is terrifying.  Instead, we drove PAST Blythe on the way to Newport Beach where Chris attended a conference on injection molding to gain knowledge for one of his newer work commitments.  I tagged along for a few days of relaxation (mainly in the form of reading books and napping) and to accompany him on the voyage.

Our lodging for the three days was the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, which was in a great location; it was in a quiet area only ½ mile away from the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and a mile away from the quaint downtown area of Balboa Island.  The folks at the Hyatt also really took care of us; when we weren’t able to check in when we arrived at 4:30pm, they called to let us know when the room was ready.  Upon our actual check in around 8ish (in the meantime, we were lucky enough to visit and enjoy excellent Thai food with Dad, Risa, and a friend of theirs, Bill, who was in town) and finding the constantly screaming baby in the room next door to be an issue, the front desk staff threw us a major upgrade.  When we moved into our new room, we found it to contain not only a king-sized bed with sitting area and balcony, but also an entire second room with a conference table (seating for 8!) and a second balcony.  Score!

Nice digs!

Also, mmm...high fiber English muffins!

On the first morning of the conference, I headed out for a jog and had a great time looking at the adorable houses on Balboa Island and enjoying the quiet beauty of the Back Bay Nature Preserve.  I cleaned up, then hiked back over to Balboa Island for some shopping in the cute boutiques; Dad, Risa, and Bill picked Chris up at lunchtime, then they met me at Wilma’s Patio for some good eats.  We finished off a Balboa bar for dessert (a vanilla ice cream bar covered in melted chocolate and rainbow sprinkles), then hopped back in the car and headed back to the hotel; Chris went back to his afternoon sessions, and I took a nap (I win).

On the walk to Balboa Island

Balboa Harbor

Such cute houses!  So expensive!

Later that evening, we watched the sunset then headed to the Newport Beach Brewing Company for some awesome microbrews and food; we mainly ate off their appetizers menu (as Monday features an all-day happy hour and accompanying discounts), and it was a great meal.  One of the things we noticed in driving back and forth to the NBBC was the ridiculous number of high-end car dealerships along the PCH; we saw everything from Bentley to Ferrari to McLaren along the route.  There’s a lot of money in this area of the world, for sure.  Anywhoo, back to the Hyatt, then to bed!

Sunset from one of our balconies

The next morning, Chris was off again to learn, while I headed to Sherman’s Gardens and Library.  Sherman’s is a really cute little spot just off the PCH; the admission is almost nothing ($3), and the grounds feature a wide variety of plants and flowers, including a tropical greenhouse with orchids and a koi pond.  Look at all the pretty:

In the succulent garden

Oooh!

Aah!

A driftwood sculpture of a stork

Red eared slider turtles

This little dude kept hopping closer and closer, checking me out.

Koi in the koi pond

After relaxing in the tea garden area for awhile, I headed to Fashion Island (the local mall) to meet Chris for lunch.  A friend of his who works in one of Gore’s Flagstaff locations, David, was also attending the conference, and we were able to have lunch with he and his wife at True Food Kitchen; although it’s a chain, it’s a local one (actually a local one to Phoenix), and the food was great!  After a quick run to See’s Candies in the mall,* I dropped Chris back off for his afternoon activity, a tour of a local injection molding company.  Instead of napping (because I like to keep things fresh), I sat by the pool for awhile and finished the book I was reading.

Some of the locals using the pool

After Chris made it back from the tour, we chilled for awhile on the balcony, then walked back over to Balboa Island to eat dinner at Barolo’s by the Sea, a local Italian place.  We were one of only 8 customers in the restaurant, so we had great service, and the food was excellent.  After stuffing ourselves with tiramisu, we called it a night and waddled back home to bed.

Chris was back to his last morning of sessions on Wednesday, which only lasted until 10; I pedaled on the bike to nowhere for awhile, then cleaned myself and finished packing up our items for checkout.  The trip home was fairly uneventful, but we stopped at a local Orange County microbrewery, The Bruery, on the way out to grab some bottles for later, and we had a much better lunch than expected at Fisherman’s Market and Grill in the city of Banning, just a bit outside Palm Springs.  We also managed to not stop in Blythe on the way back home, so we successfully avoided the vortex of weird once again.  Success!**

Overall, a great trip – we were able to visit with family and friends, eat great food, drink awesome beer, and 

Chris even learned things!

Later!

Amy

* Which later necessitated the eating of a pound of See’s Candies between the two of us within 24 hours.  Ah, the hard life we live.

** Okay, the Blythe story, for those that haven’t heard it.  You may want to sit down and not be eating, if you tend to have a weak constitution.  There’s not a lot between Phoenix and the LA area, and Blythe happens to be one of the more major spots on the map.  On one trip, we saw a sign for Subway and figured we’d stop for dinner, grabbing a few sandwiches; we figured, it was Subway – how bad could it be?  I got in line, standing behind the customer that was currently being served, while Chris headed to the loo.  In the midst of preparing this gentleman’s order, the young man behind the counter got a nosebleed and needed to hand off the rest of the sandwich prep to another employee.  The two remaining employees discussed the situation, including the amount of nose blood that was currently on the customer’s sandwich.  One of the employees asked the customer, “would you like us to make a new one?”  At this point, the customer turned to look at me with an expression of terror in his eyes, and I turned to a newly-returned Chris and said, “WE NEED TO LEAVE HERE.  NOW.”  We have visited Blythe no more.