Redondo Beach 2005

Rich and I drove to California in June to meet up with his family at his cousin Deb's house in Irvine.  Most of his family was there for a barbecue to celebrate Kahlah's graduation from college.  In Rich's family, all of the women are about 5' 2" tall, so I felt right at home.  We stayed at Deb's house for the weekend, but my favorite part of the trip was our excursions to the coast.  The first was a visit to Tony's on the Pier at Redondo Beach where my father was a bartender when I was growing up.  We also visited two homes that were part of my early years on the beach, the first at 236 Irene, the first house on the right off Torrence (by the Redonda Car Wash), and the second, at 510 Faye, also just up the street off Torrence.  We ended our weekend with a full day at Newport Beach, eating brunch at Main Street Bistro on Balboa Island, plus a long walk looking at all the beautiful houses, gardens and sailboats along the harbor.  We took the ferry back across to Newport Beach, and ended a perfect day by sitting atop the bluff at Corona Del Mar watching the sun set over Balboa island.