Ocean Views

After driving all over Lemon Grove looking at all the different places Mom and Dad had lived, both before and after marriage, we headed downtown for lunch at Anthony’s.  Every Friday night while we were home my parents had date night.  Sometimes they would see a movie, sometimes they just went for a drive in the car, and sometimes they went out to eat.  Part of the motivation for this trip was to go and eat at all the places they love and remember from that time.  Anthony’s was first on the list. Something new that my dad has acquired since I last saw him is a handicapped parking sticker.  We used it to pull up right to the front of the restaurant and park for free.  So awesome! This is no small feat right on the harbor where construction has destroyed lots of street parking.  It really did make the whole trip more fun, which sounds weird, but is totally true. Anyway, getting lunch at Anthony’s isn’ t just about the good food, although it is delicious.  It is the combination of lunch and the view.You are literally right on the water.  There were seagulls flying and waves splashing and the air was perfect, not too warm and not too cold.  As my dad said, “You feel like a king!”

We walked around the harbor a bit, enjoying the big ships that were docked there and then drove over to Colorado.  We drove past the community where Grandpa Lasko lived, and then headed over to town.  We parked near the Del and walked around for a bit, then headed over to the beach.  Dad was getting pretty tired, so he just walked out until the sidewalk ended, and waited for us, while Mom and I went walking down the shore.  We took off our shoes, rolled up our pant legs and splashed in the water as we looked for seashells for me to bring back home.  We found quite a few, one that seagull had just cracked open for lunch!  (We let him finish before we took the shell. )  There were some tide pools where we saw some cute little crabs and found some more great shells.  We walked quite far, getting almost down to the Del again, before we turned around and headed back to Dad.  It was too cold to go all the way in the water, although we saw a couple crazy people attempting it, but it was just enough of the beach experience to keep me happy.

We headed over to Seaport Village later for dinner.  They have a little restaurant there called Greek Islands, and they have amazing gyros.  I wasn’t actually that hungry, having had a delicious lunch and not being used to eating a large dinner, but the smell was so intoxicating I managed to eat it anyway. heehee  Afterwards we strolled around enjoying the view and browsing in the shops.  Some of them were still the same as I remembered from long ago, most were new.  I bought some fun little souvenirs for the kids, including shell rings for the girls, and a game for the boys. 

We headed back to the hotel eventually and watched a bit of tv before turning in.  I was also able to Skype with the family back home.  We managed to do that at least once a day the entire time I was gone, which helped them all to not miss me so much. 🙂