Travel Tuesdays #19: Newport Beach & Southern California Culture

Travel Tuesdays

Southern California definitely has it's own culture. It's a laid back, leisurely lifestyle, work hard, play hard and most importantly, enjoy life.

One of the core elements of that culture is the beach. The beaches here are pristine, well developed and utilized by everyone, everyday because it's always sunny in Southern California! Seriously, it was clear and 80 degrees when I shot these pictures and video!

Enter Newport Beach. It isn't as well known as it's sister beach to the northwest, Huntington Beach aka Surf City USA, but it does have amazing beaches, huge crowds and a world famous break known as The Wedge.

When there are storms off the California coast The Wedge produces 20-30 foot high waves. This attracts surfers, bodyboarders and body surfers from all over the world. Even on lesser days the shore breaks can reach 5-6 feet and ruin your day if you don't know what you're doing. I know cause it happened to me once.

Photos taken by my friend Scott Mcgregor and used with his consent.

The Wedge lies at the end of Newport Beach on Balboa peninsula and that is where we will start. The Wedge has always been a famous break but it was made even more so when the jetties to Newport Harbor we expanded in the mid 1930's.

The harbor is home to thousands of boats and yachts of the rich and famous. When I arrived a whale watching boat full of people was making it's way out.

As I walked out to the jetty I noticed some galleons out in the distance. They were big ships, but too far for me to get a good picture on my iPhone. You never know what you are going to see sailing out of this harbor! Later on I could hear them shooting off their canons while I was on the pier. It would have been such a treat to have been on one of those ships!

At The Wedge the waves weren't big that day, but there was a guy taking pictures and videos in the tubes of the shore break which was fun to watch.

After a few minutes of watching the photographer in the barrels I walked down the beach a bit to enjoy the fresh air, nice weather, relaxing sounds of the waves and the dream homes.

While grabbing some more photos and video I decided to head up to the Balboa pier. You can make the pier out in the center left of the picture below. It's about a 10 minute walk, but I was driving so I went back to get the truck at the harbor and drive up.

The beach & harbor are lined with multi million dollar compounds. These aren't just houses, many of them are huge structures with large, walled in courtyards and large docks in the back. I've always like this Spanish style house so I took a photo for everyone to see it.

As I walked to the pier I took some more pictures of houses. Many of these houses are vacation rentals. I noticed one was available as a weekly rental for a cool $12,000!

This bike path that lines the house runs about 3/4 of the beach which is 5 miles long.

Just before making it to the pier I spotted some people playing flag football. It was Super Bowl Sunday so why not play some football on the beach! I should have joined them for the exercise!

Finally I made it to the Balboa pier. The pier was built in 1906 and still stands as it did then, albeit with some upgrades like a Ruby's Diner at the end. It is a popular spot for fishermen and there used to be a fresh fish wholesale market there by the local fishermen. I'm not sure if they still do it though.

I stopped underneath to grab a few shots. I love the symmetry and man made lines against the restless sea.

Walking up to the pier there were some strelitzia, aka bird of paradise flowers. These plants are amazing and very common in Orange County. I believe in evolution, but I always wondered how did these things evolve like this?

The Pier!

The beach from both sides!

As I mentioned the pier is popular for fishing. There are cleanup stations at several locations as you walk along and always nearby are anglers reeling in their catches.

If fishing isn't your thing you can grab a bite to eat at the Ruby's Diner, although it smells a bit fishy out there.

That's the end of our journey. I'll leave with a video and one last picture which shows the Saddleback Mountains in the back ground. I grew up with those mountains always in sight and the sight of them always brings me comfort. This is Southern California culture, sun, surf and enjoying life. Cheers!

Thanks for reading and thank you to @eroche for the #culturevulture challenge, @lyndsaybowes for the #walkwithme idea and @martibis and @blueorgy for creating my favorite steemit tool, http://www.steemitworldmap.com.

私は日本語に翻訳しないことを謝ります。 それは非常に遅くなり、時間がなかった。🙇‍♂️

[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 33.594255 lat -117.882217 long Travel Tuesdays #19: Newport Beach & California Culture d3scr)

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