<p>Thanks! The one thing about going the time of the year we are, is that we won’t have to deal with crowds at popular, recommended restaurants! D1 is very good and organized about checking out local restaurants before we travel and finding out the most highly recommended ones. When we went to Charleston over Columbus Day weekend, she made reservations at three places as soon as we planned the trip over two months ago! And at each place, when we walked in, I overheard the hostess telling people who just stopped in, that either 1) the wait was at least an hour and a half, or 2) they had no more seatings available that night. One of the restaurants we went to has a sister location in Nashville, and just this week I read that location in Nashville had made the top ten list of Esquire’s best restaurants in the U.S. for 2014. </p>
<p>Or for a hole-in-the-wall local Italian restaurant, try Pizza D’Oro in Costa Mesa (Wednesday is all you can eat spaghetti and meat sauce).</p>
<p>Post #139, my friend got married at Las Brisas in the 80s. But last time I was there for Mother’s Day, big mistake, I never came back. Must be over 10 years. I just don’t think any restaurant is worth the long wait. Overhyped in my book.</p>
<p>Stop for a date shake at the Crystal Cove Shake Shack in Newport Beach along Pacific Coast Highway.</p>
<p>The Shake Shack is now a Ruby’s Shake Shack, but it is right above Crystal Cove. And Beachcomber, the restaurant in Crystal Cove is lovely. You park across Pacific Coast Hwy and a little bus comes for you to take you down. Have your parking pass validated to waive the charge. The bus costs about $1 per person. </p>
<p>Las Brisa’s is overrated,but the view is lovely. BUT, seeing as the OP has an ocean front home for the week, they won’t need that view (necessarily).</p>
<p>The Hotel Laguna is an historical landmark and has a great photo collection hallway. </p>
<p>Food wise, Greeters Corner (restaurant/coffee shop) has gone downhill in the last couple of years, which is too bad. Big Fish has great craft beers if that’s your thing. And the bakery in town, Scandia, is worth the calories. </p>
<p>Shaw’s Cove is just one of many that the local dive shop uses for their lessons. I’ve seen snorkeling going on too. </p>
<p>OP - while you’re shopping at Fresh Produce, your D might enjoy stopping in to Heavenly Couture, a shop that caters to the younger crowd, and nothing costs more than $16. They’re almost next door to one another. (you’re welcome) </p>
<p>I’m excited for you. I think Laguna is a treasure. </p>
<p>The Beachcomber at Crystal Cove is wonderful. I also highly recommend Watermarc (ask to sit upstairs in the alcove by the pepper tree) and Selanne Steak House (very nice - owned by Teemu Selanne) for upscale dining, and Cafe Zinc for more casual dining (make sure to stop in their shop and buy some homemade granola to take back to the rental). Sapphire is nice, too, and has a great takeout pantry adjacent to the restaurant.</p>
<p>Las Brisas has a fabulous view and location, but the food is mediocre. They do serve a weekday buffet breakfast for under $20, and it’s hard to get breakfast wrong.</p>
<p>There is a fun scavenger hunt through Laguna run by a company called Cluehoo. You participate at your own pace, with clues sent to your cell phone. I have lived in/near Laguna for most of my life, but still discovered some hidden gems on the hunt, and our group had a blast. You can usually snag a deal through Groupon :).</p>
<p>Also, down the street from Fresh Produce is a fabulous shop called Tuvalu, which sells coastal inspired furniture and accessories.</p>
<p>I’ll be praying for lots of sunshine!</p>
<p>Visited Crystal Cove for the first time this year (been to Laguna several times). Wow, what a gem. LOVED the little restaurant down on the water that was mentioned upthread… The food was WAY better than we expected. What a wonderful park. Hiked a couple of the trails too. We were there in mid September and where we hiked, we only saw one other person. I really love that area.<br>
PS The whale watching this year has been spectacular too. We’ve done two different companies out of Dana Point (south of LB). Our preferred is Captain Dave’s–goes out on a smaller catamaran type vessel with crew who are biologists, etc. We saw 7 blue whales this year. A couple weeks ago they had a rare sighting of 50 sperm whales. Don’t know which ones might be migrating that time of year, but hopefully you’ll get to see something! You’re going to have a wonderful time.</p>
<p>I think there are literally tons of good restaurants downtown Laguna Beach. </p>
<p>From what I remember when we were in LA last February, as we drove into more remote areas (I think Topanga Canyon), we saw road side stands with fresh fruit and vegetables. Is there really freshly-picked fruit/vegetables year-round? If so, that would be awesome to pick up for the house. </p>
<p>Yes, there is! A lot of the canyons have stands between the 101 freeway and the beach as you get down towards LA: Topanga, Kanan, Las Virgenes/ Malibu Canyon. Also along Hwy 1 as you drive through Malibu. If you want a great selection, go up into the Oxnard area where there are stands everywhere!</p>
<p>So I’ll be able to get Fresh Produce of all kinds! Win/win.</p>
<p>There’s lots of farmers market nearby, you don’t have to go that far. They come very regularly. I used to have a listing but i don’t know where mine is.</p>
<p>Google Laguna Beach Farmers market. </p>
<p>Thanks… this just adds to the anticipation of going. Nothing like getting some really fresh produce in the dead of a midwest winter.</p>
<p>Sorry, I am VERY late to this thread, but had to give my two cents anyway. </p>
<p>Crystal Cove is wonderful, definitely put that on your to-do list. At the Beachcomber you can eat out on the patio and they have heaters and blankets if it is cold. We also like Bear Flag Fish Co (a local seafood market) at the Crystal Cove Promenade and Nicks restaurant in downtown Laguna Beach. </p>
<p>February/March weather in Southern California is variable. Usually it is cold by our standards, and it can be rainy. But, almost always, we get a random week of gorgeous 80 degree weather sometime in that period. So maybe you will get lucky. </p>
<p>Greatlakes: We used to go to Ensenada/Puerto Nuevo often, but like others have said, sadly, we don’t go anymore because we don’t feel it is safe. </p>
<p>From Laguna Beach, you are about an hour away from San Diego which would be perfect for a day trip if you wanted. </p>
<p>Do you have some extra room in that place, teriwtt? ;)</p>
<p>Perhaps people, arabrab, but NO MORE dogs! </p>
<p>I believe D1 gets the room with the bunks, and she only takes up one bunk.</p>
Wanted to provide an update to this thread I started and thank everyone again for all the suggestions and recommendations that led us to choosing Laguna Beach. We got back late Saturday night, and I’m still grieving the fact that we had to leave at all!
Our house was wonderful! It was 1600 sq. ft., so at any time, five adults could be there and not get in anyone’s way. Heck we could have almost each been on our own separate decks/patios and still been separated. There were outdoor living spaces on FOUR different levels. The top level was a balcony only accessible from the living room/dining room. The level below it could be accessed from our very large master suite (with a fireplace, but we never used it), and led to the spaces below it; it had an outdoor dining set on it as well as some chaise lounges and umbrellas. The third level down had the hot tub, a gas grill and gas fireplace, as well as outdoor dining set. Several nights we sat in the hot tub and watched the sun set over the Pacific. The last level was about five steps up from the beach itself and had some chaises and chairs. From the beach up to the top level of the house, was 61 steps (believe me, I counted 'em!). From any west-facing window/outside living area, you could see Santa Catalina Island, and the sun would set over it every night.
Weather-wise, it was near perfect. The first day, we arrived at the house around 5PM after stopping at Costco in Laguna Niguel. It had been overcast a bit when we landed, but by the time we got to the house, the clouds had broken somewhat and we saw a beautiful sunset. Sunday was a bit overcast with some sun breaks, and it sprinkled a couple of times, but never when we were out walking on the beach or in town. On the top level of the house, we could open the floor to ceiling glass doors, that because of one of them being bi-fold, we had about 10’ of wide open doors, so we could be inside, but still hear the sound of the surf/seagulls, etc. On Monday D2 and I were supposed to meet a friend and her daughter (who D2 went to school with) at The Beachcomber Cafe around 11:30, but around 10:30 the sky opened up, so we altered our plans and met them at a restaurant at the Irvine Spectrum (H went over to UC-Irvine that day to meet with some professors that he knows). It poured on us as we ran from the parking garage into the restaurant, but by the time we finished and walked out to our car, the skies were blue and sunny, and it basically stayed that way the rest of the week. It was just perfect for taking strolls along the beach with the dogs - in fact, it was the first time D2 had ever had her dogs at the beach, so it was fun to watch them learn and explore. I’d say about half the people had their dogs on leashes, although it says it’s a law.
H and I did some tide pool exploring a couple of days which is always interesting. We ate dinner in the first two nights (rotisserie chicken from Costco), and it was just SO nice not to even think about getting dressed up and going out. We ate out Monday and Tuesday nights at Carmelita’s and K’Ya Bistro which were great. Wednesday night, D2’s boyfriend cooked for us (he has worked as a sous chef before), and Thursday and Friday we went to the Watermarc Grill and GG’s Cafe Bistro. We ate lunch in every day, and only ate breakfast out once… the morning we were leaving - we ate at Heidelburg Cafe. Watermarc was probably our favorite. And we got gelato a couple of times that was awesome.
H, D2 and her SO and I went to Crystal Cove on Thursday and did about a 4.5 mile hike. Crystal Cove was actually closed for the first three days we were there due to the rain earlier, but was beautiful when we were there - again, perfect weather - I got a little warm while hiking, but not too bad. D1 also rented a bike with the intentions of having it for several days, but on the first day, he tried to make it to some trails he’d seen on a map, and after a mile of steep uphill, had to turn around and come home as there was just no end to the uphill, and he hasn’t ridden now in several months. The next morning, we put the bike in the car, and I drove him up to Alta Laguna Park where he found Top of the World, and basically road around for a couple of hours, eventually finding his way home. He said the trails were pretty intense - very steep, and with lots of gullies/crevices that made him a bit nervous; he reached a fence at a golf course at some point, and realized he either had to climb the fence with his bike, or retrace the trail back uphill to get home, so he basically scaled the 10’ fence, with the bike, and caught up with another trail that got him home. When we were at Crystal Cove a couple of days later, he’d say, “Imagine this trail, only narrower, and with more ruts - that’s what the bike trail was like.” Glad I didn’t know about it until after he was done.
The only night we really turned on the TV was the night D’s SO cooked for us; otherwise, it was listening to music/reading/walking on the beach. I never in my wildest dreams, could have predicted the winter that D1 would be getting away from in Boston when we booked this vacation last fall - she was SO happy to be there (as was her dog) - she got four books read during the week! I got two read, and H read parts of several books that he’d bought for stuff sort of work-related.
We really enjoyed watching the surfers and paddle boarders. By the last couple of days there, when it really warmed up, more people were going in the water without wet suits. We saw some pretty serious wave action, and on my last day, I actually set my iPhone out on the balcony and recorded sounds for 15 minutes so I can listen to it anytime I want to and be reminded of how peaceful it was there. There was just no other noise or sounds around us pretty much the whole time we were there - we were up off the beach far enough that we couldn’t hear any voices (not that there were really many people lounging on the beach anyway) over the surf. It was just so relaxing that for the most part, we didn’t feel much need to go exploring all that much. D1 and I did go into town for a couple of hours on Friday to see if there was anything we wanted to shop for, but nothing really grabbed us - we just wanted to get back to the house, sit outside, and enjoy the peace and quiet.
(end part 1)
(part 2)
I would go back to this house in a heartbeat, and at this time of the year. My friend I met for lunch in Irvine posted on her FB wall today that this weekend it’s supposed to get up to 90°. I think we timed it perfectly! There has been just enough rain this winter that things were pretty green, and we saw lots of flowers. It would cool down enough at night so that we’d all sleep great under cozy comforters. We left the windows open in our master suite so we could listen to the waves all night long (well, when we weren’t sleeping).
I also didn’t feel bad about leftover food we had from Costco, because we gave it all to D2 to take back home with her Friday night.
The only thing we had to get used to is the fact that Laguna Beach is not what we would call pedestrian-friendly like streets are here in Illinois. There weren’t necessarily crosswalks at all intersections and D2 told us NOT to jaywalk, that the cops will give out tickets for it. So we had to learn to navigate where and when we wanted to cross streets to minimize our waiting time at intersections. I’m guessing a lot of that there is to keep traffic moving on the coastal highway, and to keep people safe - some of that traffic was moving along at a clip!
We arrived home to very seasonal temps, with highs in the 40s, and 50s mid-week, so I can’t complain, but I just can’t quite get settled in back at home yet. Between losing two hours flying home Saturday, and daylight savings time, we lost three hours between Saturday and Sunday. I keep going to iPhoto and Facebook and looking at pictures over and over again… then I look at Ds instagram pictures.
I did take my tripod along, and we managed to get quite a few group shots using the self-timer on my camera. They were all AWESOME in indulging me in this wish - the only one missing in the pictures is our pooch. But we got some group photos that I was very happy with, if I do say so myself. I’m glad I didn’t stress us all out by trying to hire a photographer, like I thought I might initially do. This way, we did it on our own time.
Interestingly, I forgot to pack my watch on the trip - well I may have done it subconsciously… great decision on my part! That’s the kind of vacation it was.
Thanks again to everyone who helped me narrow down the kind of vacation we wanted!
You can’t always count on our weather during this time of year, but more likely than not it is a “perfect” time to visit. Few tourists and yet everything is hustling. So happy your trip and family time turned out brilliantly!
I have friends that want to venture out this way. Would you mind providing the VRBO(?) link?