We left for Huntington Beach right after work on Friday night. Most of our recent roadtrips have taken us through some sort of desert, but not this one; we just had to get around a really big mountain! Google Maps had our drive time to be about an hour and a half. The funny thing about Southern California traffic is that a lot of people who work in Orange County can't afford to live there, so they commute from the South (more near where we live). So, heading towards the L.A. area on Friday, we were in the clear. Traffic going opposite of us was at a stand-still for miles because of all those commuters trying to get home. We drove by them without a problem! If it hadn't taken us 40 minutes to get on the I-15 in Temecula, we would've been there much sooner! Traffic is a nightmare getting through Temecula during rush hour!
We stayed at the Pasea Hotel and Spa, and checking in was a breeze due to their delightful On-line Check-in process. I got an email on Friday morning advising me that I could check in, and I would get an email when our room was ready! This hotel is the first that I've stayed at to ever offer this service. When we got there, all they pretty much did was print our room keys and we were on our way! Our room was to our liking, an ocean view in addition to the city as well. The view was nice especially at night!
Robbie and I immediately set out for the Huntington Beach Pier! This pier, much like the one near us in Oceanside, has a restaurant at the end of it. We didn't eat there though. Right next to the pier was the stadium! We got to the pier just before sunset, so it was perfect timing!
After grabbing something to eat, we headed back to our hotel for the evening. We were going to leave our balcony door open all night to let the sea breeze in, but the beachfront bars and lounges were loud; it was Cinco de Mayo afterall!
Saturday morning came and we were both excited for a full day of beach volleyball! The event that day ran from 9a-6p. Part of the reason we stayed so close to the stadium was so we could come and go as we pleased. Saturday morning was chilly and overcast, and the weather report said it wasn't going to get much better. Like an idiot, all I had packed were 2 pretty thin t-shirts and a zip-up sweatshirt which thankfully had a hood on it. Lesson learned: if I'm ever going to the beach again, I bring a full-blown sweatshirt! As we found our seats in the stadium, luckily the breeze was at our back! We chose to sit on the top row because we wanted to see the ocean as well!
We saw 4 matches that day, and the first one pinned a veteran AVP team against a rookie team. At this point, there were only a handful of people in the stands on account of the cold weather. The first match lasted 3 sets and the rookie team really held their own, but came up a bit short. The first match was probably the least exciting of the four we saw that day.
The second match was fun because one of the teams were the Bomgren Brothers from Woodbury, MN! When the announcer was introducing them, he said one of them went to UW-"You-Claire", haha! The announcer clearly wasn't from the upper-midwest! It was really cool watching them play and knowing they started so close to where Robbie and I used to live! They were playing a team from Southern California, but the Woodbury Brothers had fans that traveled well! At one point, the announcer asked "is there anyone in the stands that are ACTUALLY from Woodbury?!" That got a pretty healthy ovation! This match also came down to the 3rd set, with free volleyball being played (each set needs a winner by at least 2 points, and the last set goes up to 15 points. If any team goes beyond 15 points, it's free volleyball)! It was a really exciting ending, and the Bomgren Brothers edged out the Southern Californians! Wahooo!!
April Ross was the marquee player of the 3rd match we saw. You may know her from the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics! This matchup drew a big crowd! I didn't recognize April Ross's partner, however. During the first set, Ross and Co. found themselves down big early and ended up losing big, and quick! I thought they were going to get swept, but they came back looking much better in the 2nd set, and it took them 3 to just squeak by with the win! During this match in particular, I thought how cool it was that we were seeing players like April Ross for free when she was just in the Olympics a few short months ago!
Another Olympian, Phil Dalhausser, was the attraction for the 4th and final match we watched. He won the gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and appeared in the 2012 London Olympics. While waiting for this match to start, I was talking to someone who had clearly been to a few of these events in the past. He said that up until this year, general admission was usually somewhere around $10. He said that this year, the AVP changed owners, and now the AVP has enough sponsors to cover the cost of general admission! What a cool thing! By this time, it was pushing 1pm, and Robbie and I had to make a decision. We had dinner reservations for 6:30, so we either had to eat lunch then, or forever hold our peace. Given the weather hadn't got much better (in fact, I think it was colder, windier, and more overcast than when we arrived), we decided to leave after this game's first set. We couldn't even make it to 21 points. I proposed that we go now, get something to eat to hold us over until dinner, and then take a nice long dip in our hotel's hot tub. Done!
After a good hour in the hot tub, both of us had a chance to relax before dinner.
Although our dinner reservations were just down by the volleyball stadium, we ended up taking an Uber to get there because of the cold and wind. I was wearing a short dress. The place we ate at was called Duke's, a seafood and steakhouse. We were seated really close to a window overlooking the ocean and pier. Perfect! We loaded ourselves with great food, and had a delicious complimentary dessert because we were celebrating our anniversary!
We got back to our hotel just in time to see the sunset, and below are some progressional pictures of that. It was a great way to end the day!
On Sunday morning, we were on our way home by 9am. we just never know how traffic is going to be. It started to rain a few minutes after we left, but it wasn't a hassle as traffic as very light.
Even though the weekend was cooler than expected, it was still really fantastic! The cool weather was kind of a blessing because not as many people showed up to watch volleyball, I'm assuming, as there would have been had the weather been warmer. It made the event even more intimate. Going to Huntington Beach and watching AVP Volleyball for our anniversary were both new and really fun experiences for us! You know us, we love new adventures!
"Because everyday should feel like a day at the beach." - Wilton Artisan
