Seal Beach is the Best!!

We have been spending this weekend in the lovely community of Seal Beach, just south of Long Beach, Ca.

The Maven and the cute seal statue that welcomes visitors to the Seal Beach pier.

Here's a view of the pier and some feathered friends we met along the walk down this substantial structure:

Just walking around the residential streets of Seal Beach is such a treat.  Each home is unique and the owners obviously take great pride in keeping their community clean and beautiful.  Here is a sampling of some of the homes we saw on a couple of strolls.

 

And the gardening skills are to be admired during these walks as well:

And this crazy grass!!

Saturday we headed up towards Huntington Beach to check out the dog beach we heard they had there.  It was such a wonderful long stretch of beach for the canine crew and our Stanley the Greyhound could really stretch his long legs out there.  Please view Stan Cam if you are interested in seeing his joy at running in the sand.  It's a little choppy, but fun to watch.

After we tired Stanley out we started heading towards Old Town Orange, where a blogging friend has an incredible store, Country Roads Antiques, which you can see in more detail by looking at her blog here. 

I finally got to see the lovely gardens that are behind the store that Sue talks often about in her blog.

To appreciate the size and quality of Country Roads Antiques, her blog is a must-readbecause Sue posts lovely pictures of the different booths everyday.  It was so nice to meet her in person and then roam around CRA at our leisure.  Just fantastic!

Before we headed to Sue's store we had stopped at a unique outdoor cafe recommended to us for it's dog-friendly atmosphere and it's very good food.

It had lovely outdoor seating in a local park.  Address?  I don't remember, but I'm sure you can google it if you are in the area and want to check it out.  That's what we did:

As for today (Sunday)?  Well, the day is not over yet, but we've just gotten back from a wonderful bike ride from Seal Beach all the way to Long Beach. 

 I managed to catch a little video from my bike for those of you who dare to watch - can't guarantee you won't experience motion sickness, but it shows a little bit of our ride along this beautiful part of the SoCal coast.

Tomorrow Mr. Tennis will wing his way back to O-town, The Writer and Sammy will head to work in LA, The Maven, Stan and I will head back to LA in The Sacred Cow.  The Maven and I will spend our last day in LA visiting a few favorite spots, packing and having one last dinner with our generous hosts, Sammy and The Writer.  Then, well, then it's Vegas, baby, Vegas.  Our first stop on our trip home.