Week in SoCal & Back home again

We've been back in Banchory for over a week now and are pretty well adjusted again. Our first couple of days brought a continuance of the relatively mild weather for this time of year, but then, at the weekend we were hit by, not just one, but two consecutive named storms, resulting in us losing power for all of Sunday afternoon. This was a prompt to us to start up our new log burner for the first time - and it was easy. Soon we were nice and toasty admiring the warm glow.

But to finish off the story of our last week in USA:

Sunday 11th October - Salem

We pretty much completed our packing and then joined Scott & Lucy in a brief bit of house-hunting - purely exploratory at this stage as the Grants Pass house hasn't sold yet. We finished the day with a nice Italian meal in Gambaretti's, downtown.

Monday 12th October - Travel to SoCal

We rose fairly promptly, said our farewells to Scott and Braeden and the 3 of us jumped in Lucy's Jeep for the hour-long ride to Portland Airport for our flight to Santa Ana/Orange County. We met Cade, Audrey and the girls at PDX, said our farewells to Cade, who took Lucy's car back to Salem, and checked in. Through security in good time we were then able to relax and use the kid-friendly facilities:

The flight was uneventful and we landed at John Wayne Airport in Southern California on time, then picked up our team van:

There was a bit of a delay before we set off on our short, 9-mile drive to our resort. While Jo and I made sure the girls were ok, Lucy and Audrey set about trying to fit the kids' car seats. It was an awkward, tortuous process - nothing seemed to fit properly. Google and calls to Cade didn't resolve the matter either but a temporary fix was put in place and off we went.

We'd been to the Newport Coast resort a couple of times before so you would think I would know exactly where to check in - but I went to the wrong building - one that was under extensive renovation. Three times I asked employees and contractors for directions and three times I failed to find the reception building, while the girls drove round and round.

Eventually, I got there, but I wasn't too pleased with the location of our villa - it wasn't exactly what I'd asked for, but no alternative was offered so I, a little reluctantly, accepted and off we went. I opened our ground floor balcony and was horrified to see this staring at us, just a few feet away:

I knew it wasn't a dog but I thought at first it was a fox until I looked again and realised it was a wild coyote - one that became a regular visitor over the next few days, eyeing up our 5-months and 3 year old great grand-daughters!

We settled down, unpacked and looked around the resort a bit before dinner:

Tuesday 13th October

It's a big resort so Jo and I went on an orientation walk. At the very top of the resort, there's a large grassy area which overlooks the ravine and the Pacific:

In the afternoon we jumped in the team van and drove down to the 1000 block where we had previously stayed back in 2015 when Gary and Luca came over at the time of Gary's 40th. It's the nearest building to the beach and it had the attraction of  being a quieter, almost private, pool. This time around, it seemed just a little busier and I didn't recall them having these slides before:

Anyway, we spent a nice afternoon there:

Wednesday 14th October

This was the day that Lucy, Audrey and the girls were headed to nearby Anaheim and the joys of Disneyland. Kendall was very excited and Audrey was up for it too:

Two princesses

They seemed to have a whale of a time as they didn't return to our resort until after 10 pm:

Kennedy was entranced by It's a Small World

Meanwhile, Jo and I walked down to the beach and along to the Crystal Cove Historic Area:

We climbed the steps up to the Shake Shack, resting halfway:

We made our way back to our resort via the State Park and in the afternoon climbed up to the 3rd pool area at the top of the resort:

Thursday 15th October

Audrey's birthday. Most of the day was spent at the main pool:

In the evening we went out for dinner - initially to a Benihana, but it was so busy and so noisy that we left before our drinks arrived. We opted instead for a burger joint where we had good food in a nice quiet booth:

Friday 16th October

Laguna beach today - a favourite spot just a few miles south. We parked the car and walked down to the beach, stopping at a favoured photo spot:

This spot was very close to where we took a family photo 11 years previously:

There are tsunami warning signs all the way down the west coast and there had been warnings of Pacific surges on the way. Many of the beaches prepared by building up sand "berms":

This was purely a precaution and didn't stop anyone using the beach or entering the sea:

It was a very hot day and after lunch we headed back to our resort.

Saturday 17th October

Often, Jo and I would have a cup of tea/coffee or even a spot of breakfast, sitting in bed watching the TV. Occasionally we would have some company:

This morning we drove to Fashion Island, a fancy upmarket mall - delightful to stroll around as long as you weren't tempted to actually buy anything. There was a fish pond and a local outdoor film event.

Walking back to our apartment after an afternoon pool session:

 Graham Crackers and marshallows had been acquired for an evening meal of pizza beside one of the many firepits:

Sunday 18th October

Our last full day at the resort. We took a short drive north to Newport Beach. It was Sunday morning and it seemed like the whole world was there - lots of activities including a professional beach volleyball match. We shopped for gifts to take home, took a walk along the pier, followed by more beach time for Kendall:

Jo and I decided to go for another walk while the girls were having their mid-day naps. We headed north this time through Crystal Cove State Park towards Little Treasure Cove:

After that we joined the girls back at the big resort pool(s) and at last we got Jo to enter the water:

Then the usual round of Pina Coladas, Margaritas and beer, prefaced meals by the pool as dusk fell:

Monday 19th October

We were all heading home today - the girls north to Oregon and Jo and I back to Scotland. I had booked an Uber to take us up to LAX, about an hour away. Lucy, Audrey and kids were taking the car back to nearby John Wayne Airport but there had been a change of flight which meant they weren't leaving until mid-afternoon. They could have continued to use the resort's facilities but they were all packed and it was a little awkward so they just went for a drive, but before all that Audrey took this photo of the three of us in reception:

Tuesday 20th October

Back home again - all flights went smoothly and Ross picked us up at ABZ. It's lovely to be away visiting family but it's nice to be home too, although there have been a couple of appliance failures. It looks like our microwave is dead and our kitchen sink was blocking up again (sorted now).

A couple of photos of our Scots and Aussie grandsons:

Grannie Asher

Luca's team haven't had a great season but he scored on Saturday in a creditable 3-3 draw