Crystal Cove... Paradise since the 30s, the American version of "dacha", where generations suntanned their summers away, fixing up their dwellings with whatever materials they could scavenge, where teenagers hid for their first romance-on-the-beach moments, and where the little ones dug in the sand for months at a time... And now, a historical park, where locals like us can come for a weekend and channel all of the excitement of the past from the comforts of the newly remodeled cottages over the ocean. And, so we did, vigorously!!!!
I stumbled upon this place almost a year ago, while researching the gateway possibilities for Thanksgiving of 2010. Of course, it had to be booked in advance, so no luck there. But, i book-marked it and on March 1 at 8:00:03 AM i was one of the lucky ones to score a reservation for 38B cabin for Oct 7-8. And so Friday night after work we drove there. Immediately upon getting into our cottage we spoke about leaving work early next time we home here! The deck overlooking the ocean was spectacular. We made a run to the local Trader Joe's for some supplies, and decided to have a relaxing sushi dinner at a nearby restaurant, which was nice. But both of us wanted to be back to the cottage, to watch the waves break in the moonlight from our deck. But, actually, we spent our first evening sharing a bottle of wine in our room and talking about all the important things very freely and frankly. It was nice to be here, to be friends, to be having a good time, to be talking about our stuff. But, overall, not sure if it was the magic of the cove, or the full moon, but the romance was in the air, from the moment we arrived to Crystal Cove, to the very last awake hours of the last day, which turned out to be Monday! :)
We made breakfast and ate it on the deck, followed it up by wonderful reading of Solzhenitsyn's The First Circle, (that we found in the bookcase of the cottage!!!), followed up by some champagne, and an invigorating bicycle ride through the hills of the park, which we have hiked some month earlier. By the way, this was my first outing on a mountain bike actually going up a mountain. I was super intimidated by the thought of it, i knew i was way too out of shape for that undertaking. But C was patient and helpful, and waited for me on every hill, and i was determined to give it a "go", and so we did a nice loop, with a beginning flat section and then a series of hills going up, ending with a bunch of downhill speedy super duper slide. I was actually spooked out from flying down on some of the steeper ones, but enjoyed the milder ones for sure. Afterwords, we rode around a local shopping plaza and watched sunset. Back at the cottage we dug into our leftovers of roasted veggie lasagna that i brought along with whatever random snacks we had. And another bottle of wine. And another beautiful evening. In the morning i started to think about how much i didn't want to leave this place. As we started to organize our things in the room for a faster check-out at 11am, i checked my phone and there was a message from the front office that the room became available for 1 more day. My heart jumped, could we?? Carlos wanted to, and we stayed, spending the day sitting out in the sun, sipping champagne, walking the beach, and dining out at the restaurant below. Not to mention the attic of the top bunk, and the moonlight of the porch, the day was filled with relaxing joy, an imitation, no, a reenactment, of a slow summer day of my childhood, which my brain kept channeling somehow. Beautiful moments in paradise, that's what Crystal Cove was to me..
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