July 16 - 18, 2024 - Lafe and Faith's Odyssey

Coasters and the Coast

The next morning, I repeated my now normal schedule of working early with a latte supplement. We got ready and headed up the coast to Laguna to go to Thousand Steps Beach to swim in some man-made pools that get replenished by the tides. We managed to find parking not too far from the 200-odd stairs down from the road to the beach. Once down on the beach, we started walking with a bunch of other like-minded people towards the pools. We were soon stopped by a lifeguard that informed us that, despite being at low tide, the pools were closed. He said that the winter is the best time to go to the pools as storms suck much of the sand out of the sea cave that you have to pass through to get to the pools. So, instead of seeing those pools, we made our way to the other end of the beach to some natural tide pools chock-full of anemones, barnacles, mussels, and crabs. Faith and Joel made themselves busy catching small crabs and feeding them to anemones while the rest of us took pictures and dodged large waves crashing over the rocky shore. Ella wasn’t quite fast enough and got her entire backside soaked thanks to one such wave. We ascended from the beach and took a public bus up the coast to Shaw’s Cove Beach, poked around a bit, then got burgers from a local joint for lunch. We started heading back down the coast and stopped in Laguna to do some shopping at thrift and other stores before we called it a day and took the trolleys to our car and departed for home as we had a long day planned for tomorrow.

The next day, we got up and quickly readied ourselves for a long day in the summer sun at Knott’s Berry Farm, an amusement park in the LA area. We made our way north to and into the park, stopping at the first ride then quickly ditching as the line was over two hours long. Yikes. This was an omen for what was to come the rest of the day. As we made our way from one ride to the next, we waited about 45-60 minutes for a few moments of excitement and terror. The rides were all awesome and exhilarating, but the waiting certainly got old fast. On the plus side, our tickets let us get a “free” meal every 90 minutes, which we took advantage of to get more food every couple rides. Overall, it was a good but draining day that we returned from at nearly midnight thanks to traffic.

Our next day offered no respite to half of us as the boys had to be up and at ’em at 5 AM. What exactly we were going to do was a surprise that we didn’t find out until on the way to the marina where we had tickets onto a deep sea fishing vessel. We got our licenses, passes, and some rental fishing equipment before boarding and setting off on our 3/4 day of fishing. The first stop was going about 15 miles out to fish for some bigger fish that would come up from the deep to prey on “bait balls”, schools of bait fish. The ride out there was a straight shot as the crow flies, but not as the boat rocks. There were some good waves that rolled our ship to and fro, causing Joel and I to find seats at the front of the boat where the ocean breeze helped us keep hold of the churning in our stomachs. Fortunately, we kept everything down, but unfortunately the bait fish also stayed down. Eventually, our captain brought the ship back near the shore where we began fishing for calico bass and the odd sheephead and mackerel in kelp forests. Our fishing methods were rather complicated: a bare hook baited with either squid or sardine dropped straight down into the sea. The bass were deceptively good fighters and made you think that you had a much bigger fish on your hook. The three of us caught a good amount of fish, but only Jon took home a specimen over the length requirements. After a few hours fishing near the kelp forests, we headed back to the marina then to the house. Once back, we showered and sat down to relax after a long morning. A few hours later, the ladies returned with groceries and told us tales of how they were pampered with massages, naps, swimming, saunas, snacks, and so much more at the spa they went to for the day. Suffice to say, we had extremely different days.

As the sun set, we had a dinner with the calico bass we caught and a few other special treats. Faith’s family has a tradition of having a meal with things that no one has had before. This was that meal, so the bass was complemented with swordfish, halloumi (a mild cheese from goats’, sheep’s, and cows’ milk), and garlic clove chips. Both of the fish were very good: the calico bass was flaky and tasty, and the swordfish is best described as fish steak. I would highly recommend both to anyone who wants to try new seafood. We ended the evening with some affogato, a dessert of espresso poured over ice cream, before calling it a day and heading to bed. We needed some good sleep as the next day was just as packed.