Nubz and I continued our road trip in Irvine. There we shared quality time with my sister and brother-in-law, our friend from Las Vegas, and a few friendly animals. We learned how to brunch...
We also learned how not to brunch. The timing is incredibly important if you're hoping for a wait less than 90 minutes. Then again, the views and the people are welcoming!
One evening we found heaven in the form of a bistro called Porch and Swing. Pork jowl with grits, heirloom tomatoes and creamy buratta, and their famous blue corn cornbread jumped off the menu.
The drink menu was quite enticing as well. I have to admit I probably enjoyed the monkey gland too much.
Pace yourself, folks, it's all delicious!
At brunch we talked about the lack of fires in the area. My brother-in-law (we'll call him Salty) mentioned they were due for a fire anytime, and then we saw smoke.
Maybe Salty is the real oracle here! Like any good adventurers, we packed our to-go boxes and pointed our cars toward the smoke. We had planned on heading that way before, but we figured we should get a move on before roads were closed.
Up the coast to the gorgeous Crystal Cove! This incredible park is the site where Salty and my sister were married eight years ago. As chance would have it, a wedding was being set up as we strolled in.
Looking focused, a man came through several times. He carried flowers, wrapped linen around poles, and stood back to take in his handiwork every once in a while. Nubz asked him if there had been many weddings there. Yes! This man has personally performed over 70 weddings there, and has set up over 400! It's a great spot.
On our way back to their home, we stopped at a great spot and ordered shakes. Banana chocolate malt for me!
The menu made me smile. I bought a t-shirt.
Squirrels...
Salty pointed out a place that we had visited before, where our son first tried calamari.
Back at their house, we were greeted by Remy, the dog who cannot hear you, but loves you extra.
And Nay Nay, the almost-20-year-old cat with the voice of... Well maybe an angel. I haven't heard angels yell, but that might sound like her.
We loved our downtime with the animals.
Salty showed us his set-up for Zwift, an app he developes with a team that is passionate about biking. The users really enjoy the social aspect and the ability to get credit for biking even on bad weather days.
We got great sleep before our last day in California. Then we packed up and grabbed our final California breakfast on our way out. Churro waffles from Poached and apple crisp macchiato from Starbucks. Mmmmmmm.
Remy wanted to share.
And then we were off. Our trip was cut short by fires. The original plan had included a trip to Sacramento and to see the sequoias in the north. Our cousins near Sacramento called us to warn us of air quality problems, and we made the disappointing decision to try again for Northern California at another time.
What I love is that we can do this whenever we want. Nubz and I are business owners. We train leaders, but we can do it anywhere. Life is so sweet when the clocks have no hands. God bless y'all.