October 26, 2004

• Newport Beach, California

  
  
  Marriot Irvine

  I laugh when I hear people talk about the end of summer vacation and how rough it is to go back to school. Since middle school, I haven’t really had a block of vacation more than 2 weeks long. Even my supposed “vacation” in California was intertwined with a conference, which was a very good conference, but a conference nonetheless. There’s always time to brush up on outpatient orthopedics, just as there’s always time to go to the beach!

  I did get to go sailing, which was unexpected.

  If you’re ever in Newport Beach, you can rent a sailing dinghy at Marina WaterSports (yeah, that’s it’s real name. . . ) which is at the end of Hwy. 55 (just keep going and going). You can turn left on Adams Street and park in the parking garage for a heinous $2 for 30 minutes. Or you can do what I did the second day, and park on the street, which is a little farther (and requires exceedingly good parallel parking skills such as mine. . . stop laughing, Matt) but is a heck of a lot cheaper.

  
  Marina WaterSports at Newport Beach

  There are only 2 sailing dinghies at Marina WaterSports, and the sails are kind of blown out. Furthermore, they charge $34 per hour (which is almost highway robbery), but they gave me a wonderful tip about visiting Back Bay and told me where to park for free. So I can forgive them.

  
  La Quinta, Costa Mesa

  I opted not to stay in the conference hotel, because La Quinta is at least $40 cheaper. And although cheaper is not always better, it certainly was better in my case.

  My old boyfriend once asked me if I knew what “La Quinta” meant.

  Devich: No, I dunno. What does “La Quinta” mean?

  Jason: Next to Denny’s.

  This particular La Quinta in Costa Mesa is next to an empty building that used to be Denny’s. But the actual Denny’s is down the street a ways, close to the Foster’s Freeze, which is where I’d rather go anyway.

  (By the way, if you have never been to California before, and you encounter a Foster’s Freeze, you simply must try their chocolate chip milkshakes. Like See’s caramels, you can’t get anything like them anywhere else in the country.)

  
  View from cockpit
  

  And I thought for sure, I wasn’t going to go sailing.

  • 11:52 pm
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