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Our vacation to Newport Beach California was so much fun. What is not to love! The average temperature was 75-80 degrees. We went to the beach almost every day. In Mesa it is 112 degrees, which is, well, just too hot. In Mesa, if your not in the pool, you need to find things to-do inside.
Bob was with us in Newport over the Fourth of July weekend and then he left to go deep sea fishing with his brother and two of our nephews. It was nice to see him relax. I don’t think he has taken time off since before law school.
On our last day we went to the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens. It is one of my favorite places to visit. The library collections include rare books and manuscripts principally in the areas of British and American history and literature, 15th century European books, history of science, maritime history, and Renaissance exploration and cartography. Altogether there are about seven million items available for research. Wow!
The Art collection has some of the finest examples of full-length 18th-century British portraits to be found outside of Britain, and provides an unrivaled opportunity to study British art. The kids were amused the “Blue Boy” by Gainsborough and the “Pinkie” by Lawrence. Kate especially liked Pinkie. But Evan’s favorite was a painting of a Volcano. I did not expect the kids to like the art collection. However, I was pleasantly surprised with how much they enjoyed it.
The Botanical Gardens span nearly 120 acres with Approximately 15,000 kinds of plants from all over the world. There are also a series of theme gardens. We were definitely enriched and educated after our visit. I asked Evan and Kate what their favorite part of our visit was and Kate said “I like the painting,” referring to Pinkie, and Evan said “The children’s garden.”
Now we just have to get over our post vacation blues and plan our next trip.
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