My Ride to Laguna Beach
Yesterday afternoon I decided to ride to Laguna Beach from where I live in San Clemente. The ride is about 16 miles each way. You can see the approximate route at google maps. I never rode on I-5. I simply went straight down to the coast and then went north.
The weather was sunny and there were no clouds in the sky, so the ride was amazing. Between San Clemente and Laguna Beach there are no cities on Pacific Coast Highway, only small towns like Dana Point. There are a lot of very wealthy people who live along the coast here. Kagan and Eric could testify to that. When we were driving to the airport we saw all sorts of expensive cars. You name it and we probably saw it.
The ride through these areas is nice, but at the same time there is so much wealth it is ridiculous. There is also this atmosphere that you need to show that wealth and make it known to others that you have wealth just like they do. It doesn't even matter if you need to go into to debt to show the wealth, you just do it. This is pretty depressing to think about considering all the other ways this money could be better spent. Anyways, I have digressed.
Needless to say the bike ride was pleasant. I passed a couple state parks and stopped in to take a look around, but I did not see anything amazing. Most of the time the state parks were just the last bits of land with beach access that developers could not buy because they were already state parks. There was one park which was not very wide at all and did not consist of more than a grassy hill down to the beach with a small park for kids. On either side of the park were huge multi-million dollar homes and condominiums.
After about an hour and half I made it to Laguna Beach. Laguna Beach actually stretches along PCH for a few miles, but I was headed for Main Beach Park. The park is right on the coast where Laguna Canyon opens up to the warer. There are a lot of little boutiques, cafes, art stores and places for rich people to spend their money. I can imagine with would be a nice place to spend a sunny afternoon with your girlfiend or boyfriend. That seemed to be what a lot of other people were doing at time.
I walked around for a little bit, bought some sandals and then headed home. The ride home was relatively easy compared to the ride there. It could have been that I knew where I was going and I knew what to expect, where as on the way up, I wasn't exactly sure. The ride home was pretty uneventful. The sun was setting and I was planning on seeing a movie in the evening, so I didn't make any stops along the way. I passed Dana Point and was almost to San Clemente in no time and I was ready for the 4 mile ride from the coast up to Talega when I realized my front tire was flat. Also, not being a great planner, I forgot to get some spare tubes for my bike when I was at the bike store. Luckily my friend Lu from work was able to come pick me up.
I am already planning another bike trip up the coast. This time I will bring enough spare tires in case I get another flat. If I leave earlier enough in the day I might be able to make it to Newport Beach and back. My friends are also planning a trip down to San Diego some time soon. That would be a long ride as well. I took a couple photos a long the way. They are not too exciting, but you can check them out in my gallery.
By the way, if anyone is interested in gay and lesbian situaion in China, you can get some insight, from an article here. There are definite similarities between problems faced in either society, but as pointed out in the article, certain social constructs in the society prevent other problems, which we face her in the U.S.
The weather was sunny and there were no clouds in the sky, so the ride was amazing. Between San Clemente and Laguna Beach there are no cities on Pacific Coast Highway, only small towns like Dana Point. There are a lot of very wealthy people who live along the coast here. Kagan and Eric could testify to that. When we were driving to the airport we saw all sorts of expensive cars. You name it and we probably saw it.
The ride through these areas is nice, but at the same time there is so much wealth it is ridiculous. There is also this atmosphere that you need to show that wealth and make it known to others that you have wealth just like they do. It doesn't even matter if you need to go into to debt to show the wealth, you just do it. This is pretty depressing to think about considering all the other ways this money could be better spent. Anyways, I have digressed.
Needless to say the bike ride was pleasant. I passed a couple state parks and stopped in to take a look around, but I did not see anything amazing. Most of the time the state parks were just the last bits of land with beach access that developers could not buy because they were already state parks. There was one park which was not very wide at all and did not consist of more than a grassy hill down to the beach with a small park for kids. On either side of the park were huge multi-million dollar homes and condominiums.
After about an hour and half I made it to Laguna Beach. Laguna Beach actually stretches along PCH for a few miles, but I was headed for Main Beach Park. The park is right on the coast where Laguna Canyon opens up to the warer. There are a lot of little boutiques, cafes, art stores and places for rich people to spend their money. I can imagine with would be a nice place to spend a sunny afternoon with your girlfiend or boyfriend. That seemed to be what a lot of other people were doing at time.
I walked around for a little bit, bought some sandals and then headed home. The ride home was relatively easy compared to the ride there. It could have been that I knew where I was going and I knew what to expect, where as on the way up, I wasn't exactly sure. The ride home was pretty uneventful. The sun was setting and I was planning on seeing a movie in the evening, so I didn't make any stops along the way. I passed Dana Point and was almost to San Clemente in no time and I was ready for the 4 mile ride from the coast up to Talega when I realized my front tire was flat. Also, not being a great planner, I forgot to get some spare tubes for my bike when I was at the bike store. Luckily my friend Lu from work was able to come pick me up.
I am already planning another bike trip up the coast. This time I will bring enough spare tires in case I get another flat. If I leave earlier enough in the day I might be able to make it to Newport Beach and back. My friends are also planning a trip down to San Diego some time soon. That would be a long ride as well. I took a couple photos a long the way. They are not too exciting, but you can check them out in my gallery.
By the way, if anyone is interested in gay and lesbian situaion in China, you can get some insight, from an article here. There are definite similarities between problems faced in either society, but as pointed out in the article, certain social constructs in the society prevent other problems, which we face her in the U.S.
posted by Jon Keto at
1:03 PM
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