Measors West Coast Marathon - August 2011 - Day Nine

[joandwayne]

West Coast Trip Report - Measors West Coast Marathon - August 2011 - Day Nine – Shopping Mall, Dana Pointe, Laguna Beach and Newport Beach

Me – Jo – 41 – I am absolutely mad about everything to do with Disney. We have had some of our best family holidays in Florida and I love theme parks and rides. We love travelling, as a family, and our holidays are our highlights of our year. I am the holiday organiser and planner and just let everybody else know where we are going.

DH – Wayne – 40 – DH celebrated his 40th birthday this year and so he wanted a couple of special holidays (like I did for my 40th last year). Loves Disney and Florida and rides like the rest of the family but will only agree to Florida every other year as he likes to visit other parts of the World in between. Doesn’t like to get involved in planning and organising – normally just pays for everything!

DS – Matt – 15 – Matt is the rollercoaster fan in the family. He knows all of the rollercoasters in the World and his ambition is to visit every Six Flags theme park in America. Having been to New Jersey Six Flags, this West Coast Trip promised to add another Six Flags to his list, which is Valencia in LA.

DD – Rachel – 12 – Rachel is another ride fanatic! She is not scared of anything and will ride anything that the rest of the family will do. Rachel also loves travelling and enjoys visiting historical places and Cities.

If you have read yesterdays report, then you will know that today was a bonus day as we are now combining Universal Studios and Hollywood into the same day. We hadn’t built any shopping into this trip as we had been to New York in April and done plenty of shopping there, but DH fancied a trip to South Coast Plaza shopping mall.

We all got some bargains in Abercrombie and Fitch sale and this shopping mall reminded us of Millenium Mall in Florida – quite upmarket. Also stocked up on Aveda haircare whilst we were here.

After lunch we decided to explore some of the coastal towns along the Pacific Coast Highway. We headed up to Dana Pointe – it was a beautiful town with a great beach and great views. Definitely worth visiting. (Everywhere is so windy on the West Coast - my hair looks a state in every blooming picture! )







From here, we headed to Laguna Beach – absolutely loved it here. Great beach with lovely boardwalk along the front to explore from. The town was lovely – full of art shops and antique shops – very nice. We ate in a restaurant called ‘The White House’ and had one of our best meals of the holiday here.











From Laguna Beach we drove to Newport Beach – loved it here – not as quaint as Laguna Beach, but very lovely marina with loads of yachts moored here. Didn’t get many pictures of Newport – found this blurry one!



By now it was time to head back –early night tonight as we are back to Disney tomorrow! Disney’s California Adventure – Tower of Terror, Soarin’, The New Little Mermaid Ride…………………..amongst others – couldn’t wait!

Just incase you didn't realise it - we absolutely love America - God Bless the USA!

[Glee Fan]

Fab - you always have to fit a bit of a shop in somewhere

The beaches look lovely.

[WileyCoyote]

Another wonderful day - I am so enjoying your trip report, it looks like the most amazing holiday

[Guest]

Always nice getting bargains! Lovely pics, and your hair looks fine

[KarenG]

Aother fantastic day. I'm really enjoying your report!

So, bearing in mind the other Coastal towns you visited on the PCH - if you went back and wanted to stay on the beach again, would you return to Huntington or try one of the others?

[Shmee]

I was going to ask the same question as KarenG - which of the coastal towns would you stay in?

[joandwayne]

Originally Posted by KarenG

Aother fantastic day. I'm really enjoying your report!

So, bearing in mind the other Coastal towns you visited on the PCH - if you went back and wanted to stay on the beach again, would you return to Huntington or try one of the others?

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Originally Posted by Shmee

I was going to ask the same question as KarenG - which of the coastal towns would you stay in?

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To answer you both, I would still choose to stay in Huntington Beach. Dana Pointe was lovely but too far South for Disney and Hollywood. Laguna Beach was gorgeous and would love to stay there but, again, would be a longer drive to Disney and other LA attractions. Newport Beach would be an option but it was a bit more touristy - just loved the surf vibe at Huntington Beach - and the shops/restaurants and our hotel was gorgeous!

[MFras23]

Love America too, some people just don't get the country, but I love it

[hross42877]

Great read!

[spencem]

When my numbers come up I'm having one of those houses between Laguna Beach and Dana Point, might have to wait for a double roll over mind you.