Sunday, May 6, through Wednesday, May 9, 2012:  Back in Civilization:
The 110-mile trip from the desert to the sea on Sunday was easy, except for the congestion from an accident on Rte. 91.  Maddening.  We arrived before noon at the Huntington By The Sea RV Park on Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. 

Checking in was expected to be a bit of an adventure because the office is normally closed on Sunday, but we quickly found help because the office was open due to a family emergency with the managers---who gave us our choice of available spaces.  (Our pre-assigned space had not yet been vacated.)  It's a small, in-town park with the customary tight spaces, but we managed.  The park is right across the street from the beach,

and, but for the fact that it's all asphalt, it's pretty nice.

Sunday afternoon, we headed for a party at Brent and Carrie Carroll's house in Coto de Caza, celebrating the graduation of their son, Blake, from college.



Eveybody was there, including our oldest niece, who had flown in from Seattle for a few days.  There were also a bunch of Carrie and Brent's (and Blake's) friends and neighbors we did not know.  Altogether a happy and fun group.

Monday was a nothing day; the weather was cold and damp, and it seemed like a good idea to just hang out.  Tuesday was much more active---walking Ramsey, my getting a haircut, a little shopping, and going to Santa Ana to look at possible new companions for Ramsey.   The street the rescue place was on looked like a very normal residential street, except that it was zoned solely for dogs. 

Every house on the street was a commercial kennel except for the place we went, which was a place to adopt dogs that had been rescued.  We saw three dogs that were either partly or wholly Dalmatians.  None of them met our needs.  Too bad.

Tuesday night we had sushi at Matsu, a very nice (and, happily, inexpensive) Japanese restaurant about three miles away.  Delicious!

Wednesday, we cooled it, getting ready for the next move, except that we finished our stay in Huntington Beach by having dinner that5 evening at the Naples (Long Beach) home of Joyce Levinson and David Kriesel. They are long-time friends of Becky‘s from banking days. (We attended their wedding in 1986 and, a week later, met them in London for, among other things, a breakfast of eggs floating in grease, a fascinating hour watching a trial of an IRA terrorist at Old Bailey, and a tour of St. Paul‘s Cathedral.) It was great fun seeing them again.