BALBOA (Day 3 - part 2)

A ferry pulls in.

Heading toward Balboa Island

We drove to the nearby Lookout Point with a view of Newport Harbor and the southern tip of the Balboa Peninsula. The beach down below was used to film some scenes from Gilligan's Island in the mid-1960s.

We drove south to Laguna Beach and walked briefly along the boardwalk of Main Beach.

Kids even got their own life guard station to play in on the playground.

The fascinating... yet somewhat intimidating... "pigeon tree"!

We strolled to Laguna Village with its impressive The Cliff restaurant.

Paddleboarders

There was even a menu for dogs!

Lunch... and dessert!!

We continued south to Dana Point. Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1815-1882) was a sailor and author who explored (and wrote about) California coastal communities.

The city's historic core is known as Lantern Village. All the streets are named after different colored lanterns... Copper Lantern, Golden Lantern, Violet Lantern, Blue Lantern, etc. Apparently 200 years ago, ships used colored lanterns to indicate their cargos when in the Dana Point harbor.

Heritage Park and its lookout

Doris Walker (1933 - 2011) was the area's local historian. Doris and her husband moved here in 1963, where she worked as an editor, reporter, photo journalist, and public relations director. She wrote many books about the area... stories of adventurers and explorers, trappers and traders, pirates and fisherman, whales and wildlife, and the Native Americans. The bronze artwork was designed by a local artist, Christopher Pecharka, and depicts scenes from her many stories.

View of the Dana Point harbor, built in the 1960s.

Heading home

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