_awakening

Only in SoCal.

Jamie and I went out for dinner last night in Laguna and saw this...

Visual Vacation.

Thanks to Surfer Magazine for posting these pics from this past week of incredible weather and surf in So Cal.

Woods Cove.

So with the temperatures reaching triple digits today [yeah, it was that hot today], we decided to join the approximately 200,000 other people who migrated oceanward today.

We decide to forgo our usual locales and broaden our beach experience horizons a bit. Back when Tom and Maggie Wright were in town, the kids and I took Maggie for a drive up PCH after having breakfast at La Galette. While driving through Laguna Beach, we decided to make a small detour to see if we could find a good lookout spot for Maggie to take a picture of the ocean. What we found was way better. Apparently Laguna Beach is filled with these sweet little secluded coves, which I did not know about. The one we stumbled across that day was Woods Cove.

So today we decided to make a family afternoon of it - to take in some sun and waves while trying to escape the heat. So after Jamie got off work, we all headed out to Woods Cove. It was such a great time. We laughed, ran around, played smashball, threw the frisbee, and collected rocks and shells.

Pretty sweet time together with our kids. Just what we needed after the past few weeks.

So if you're looking for a relaxing place for a few hours, you can find your way to Woods Cove here.

Saturday Sunset.

Jamie took this pic with her phone after closing the restaurant Saturday night. She passed it along to me and now I pass it along to you.

Hope it does for you what it did for us... inviting us to slow down, breathe, and remember the goodness of the Creator.

Enjoy.

Making the Rounds.

I got a call from Adam a few days ago.

"Hey, Did you know that you made the homepage of SurfingMagazine.com?"

"You're joking, right?"

Apparently not. I guess the photo that Josh and I found ourselves in with Kelly Slater, the Boost Mobile Pro Champion, is making the rounds on various surf industry websites...

A Reminder...

... of why we love living where we do. I spent the morning having breakfast with a good friend of mine at La Galette [also a chance to hang out with Jamie as well]. Anyway, here are a few pics from the morning, which by the way was absolutely stunning! Sorry the quality isn't much better [I took them on my cell phone], but you'll get the picture...

Boost Mobile Pro Finals.

Saturday afternoon, we made the short trek down to Lower Trestles to see the finals of the Boost Mobile Pro. We got there with just about 20 minutes to spare before Kelly Slater took on Pancho Sullivan in the finals. Prior to the finals going off the conditions were amazing, but once the finals started Trestles became stingy. It produced a few great waves, which Slater capitalized on, in the midst of inconsistency. Anyway, Slater took the final convincingly - collecting his ASP record setting 34th victory. Slater is an eight time champion for a reason - the guy is unbelievable.

It was pretty amazing to see a finals of an WTC event in person. Video footage does not do it justice. Josh and I just kept talking about the speed and power of the moves these guys were pulling in the water. We also talked about the atmosphere of the event. I don't know of too many sports outside of surfing where the average person can get so close to the pros.

Hence the photo above. If you click on it, you'll see yours truly in the red hat, with Josh standing in front of me with a black hat on. When Slater came out of the water, we were close enough to pat him on the back. Josh was so stoked...

For more photos from the event, go here or here.

2007 Boost Mobile Pro.

Desperately needing a bit of a break, I spent the majority of the morning at the Boost Mobile Pro being held at Lower Trestles. After a few days off, due to poor conditions, round two kicked off this morning, with the earlier heats boasting some pretty good match-ups.

Got the opportunity to hang with the crew from Mada to watch their newly inked team rider, Bede Durbidge, absolutely manhandle tour rookie Luke Munro. Durbidge was the 2006 Boost Mobile Pro Champion and, from the looks of his heat this morning, is going to be tough this year. Also got to see one of my personal favorites, Bobby Martinez defeat Gabe Kling .. Martinez looked good, real good this morning.

Round three tomorrow, with at least one classic match-up - Kelly Slater vs. Rob Machado.

You can keep up with everything Boost Mobile Pro here, including a live webcast of the event.

More photos from Day 4

Local Photo Contest.

The Orange County Register recently ran a contest for the best beach photos. This last week they posted the best 85 submissions for people to enjoy. Some of the photo are just amazing. So if you're a SoCal transplant, or just love the beach... check them out.

As for the winners of the contest...

[Surfer flying high, above the waves. Photo by Chris Owen of San Clemente]

[Soaring dolphin caught off Newport the weekend of July 7. Photo by William Nelson of San Clemente]