Thankyou Huntington Beach Library

I

Thankyou Huntington Beach Library

 

Because of our extended stay at La Jolla, we arrived at Huntington Beach rather late on Thursday.  Our destination was the central library in the town.

 We love this spot, as you are adjacent to one of the most beautiful libraries I have seen, with a number of open levels, and statues, and fountains throughout—as well as books!  Also, right beside where we park is an enormous park with hundreds of acres of nature trails, ponds, and natural trees/vegetation (not the phony palms you see everywhere).  The natural trees down here look something like enormous Arbutus trees.  They are right now in the process of losing some of their bark, but the leaves are still green.

 Each morning we head out at about 8:00 to get our oceanfront piece of real estate in the parking lot, only a few feet from the endless sandy surf beach with a spectacular view of the enormous Huntington Beach Pier.

Huntington Beach is the home of surfing in the USA.  The sport was brought to the US by a famous Hawaiian by the name of “Duke”.  He won several gold medals for the US in swimming and is recognized as the father of surfing in the USA.  The town hosts the US national surf championships every year in mid July. 

Judging by the miles of parking lot that the town has that run parallel to the sandy seashore, there must be tens of thousands of people in this town daily throughout the summer months.  However, at this time of year, there is less than 5% occupancy in the enormous lots, so we almost have the beach to ourselves! 

Unlike San Diego, however, we do have to pay $15 per day to park in our little piece of paradise.  Since there are so few cars this time of year, we can spread out with our entry mat, bikes, and scooter taking up any space we might want to use.  We even open the slide for a nap on occasion!

Like San Diego, the beach has a seemingly endless beach promenade to walk and ride our bikes on.  Temperatures have ranged from a low of 63 up to mid to low 70’s.  With no hills along the beach area, your only obstacle to a relaxing bike ride is the light sea breeze that blows in your face for half of your ride and helps push you along on your return home. It is a very easy lifestyle to slip into.

For evening entertainment, Thursdays and Tuesdays have large craft and farmers markets that take over either the pier parking lot, or the parking lot and first 4 blocks of Main Street in the town. 

The base of the pier often has free live entertainment where musician just seem to gather and have jam sessions. It is very entertaining to sit back and take it in

The first 4 blocks of the town are full of small shops and restaurants that usually sprawl into their organized sidewalk serving areas.  It is very a very quaint and warm environment that encourages sidewalk strolling and a little outdoor bar hopping.

Our favourite haunt is Perqs bar.  On NFL game nights they have $2.00 draft, so how can  you say “no”.  Also, they have the fastest wifi in town, so we can have a drink, watch a game, enjoy people watching, and keep in touch with anyone at home—makes for a fun evening.