Cross-Country Road Trip – First Stop: San Clemente

I love waking up early in a new town and exploring the city. Our Airbnb in San Clemente, California lends itself nicely to morning walks through a hilly, picturesque town that leads you downhill towards the sound of the Pacific Ocean crashing along a sandy shoreline.

So my travel buddy this week is my son Matt and I’m super excited to explore the southern part of our country and have some fun bonding time.

My 6 am flight to California on Delta went smoothly. Flying out of the small airport of Sarasota to John Wayne airport in California was more manageable than the bigger airports and closer for my drivers to transport me.

Matt picked me up and we went to lunch at a highly rated Mexican restaurant called Balvinia which featured my favorites: Queso fundido, Mole Poblano and Chili Rellenos. So good.

It was too early to check into the Airbnb in the village of San Clemente, but we were able to park in our spot. We walked toward the beach, then detoured into the historic Casa Romantica, the restored home of Ole Hanson who founded San Clemente. His dream to create a Spanish Village by the sea has come true.

The beautiful gardens and unique Spanish architecture on a coastal bluff overlooking the San Clemente pier is well worth a visit.

While gazing at the view from the dining room, my phone rang and it was Mark – he said he and the gang were all at the beach under 2 blue umbrellas.

Great – we will be there in 20 minutes. Look for us!

We finished our visit, then waited for the train to pass before we could cross onto the San Clemente boardwalk.

Oddly, the train does go by quite often right here practically on the beach!

As we walked along the crowded Saturday afternoon beach, filled with good looking Californians under blue umbrellas, we scanned the crowd for our friends.

The 2 identical blue Costco umbrellas touching each other was the clue and minutes later I was being introduced to a smiling crew who all seemed to know my son Matt well.

In fact, Mark referred to Matt as his adopted son a few times which I’m sure my late husband Mike must be smiling about as much as I am.

I met Mark freshman year of college at Oneonta. Mark liked to play pranks and we have some crazy stories to reminisce over.

The summer after freshman year we all went to a party at one friend’s house in Cutchogue, NY. It was a long drive home so everyone slept over.

Mark had brought a friend “from home” to that party who I thought was rather cute. His name was Mike Divers.

Years later when Mark moved to California, Mike and I decided that sounded like a good idea. We loaded my red Ford Mustang with some clothes and drove across the country stopping in places like Detroit, Michigan to visit cousin Laurie, the Badlands of South Dakota, Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, and Jackson Hole, in Wyoming, Aspen, Colorado, a quick peak at the Grand Canyon, and a few slot machines in Nevada before making San Diego our home for the next 8 years. Great memories.

After some fun beach time (the water was colder than Florida and had a strong current) we showered and all met back at Sunsets bar for happy hour.

I experienced even more fond memories as I chatted with Mark’s sister-in-law who worked in Aspen, CO the same year as I did! We compared notes and which celebrities we met. We both waited on Arnold Schwarzenegger among others. Always surprised at what a small world it is!

It’s been 19 years since I’ve been back to Southern California. We took the boys for visit back then and their favorite part of that trip was the chocolate fountain at Mark and Chrissy’s house with their 3 daughters. That highlight led to years of hosting chocolate fountain parties at our house in New York.

It’s fun and nostalgic to be here today. As I sit on a bench on the chilly San Clemente Pier watching surfers through what we called June Gloom, where the fog sits over the water in the morning, I’m feeling so blessed to be able to be here and make this cross country trip back east with my son.

Time to make new memories!

Our planned route is to Zion and Bryce national parks in Utah, Monument valley, then 3 states I’ve never been to: Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The last few days we’ll drive through Mississippi and Alabama before returning to Florida.

I’m off to join a cardio-yoga class this morning a block away. Have a great day everyone!