Visiting my home town---Huntington Beach!

Happy 5th! Did you have a nice holiday? I thought I would share a little about the city I live in. Huntington Beach is a great place to live. The weather is wonderful in this Southern California region and we have about 10 miles of coastline. Summer brings thousands of tourists to this city every day. The downtown is right by the beach with a long pier, shops, restaurants, bars and surf stores. The beach is a world class surfing destination, home to frequent surf contests and sand volleyball is big too. Besides the beach, there are homes of all kinds since this city was started in the early 1900s. Oil is still found here as well. Big hotels have come up along the beach  which include a Hilton and Hyatt hotels. Pacific Coast Highway is jammed all summer and frankly, I avoid the most crowded parts.

 But I decided to take a little visit to Huntington Beach, California Main Street, the beach and pier.. just to share! As you can see, the pier is decked out for the 4th of July Holiday.

  I took these photos on July 3rd, right before the big holiday. The city was packed with beach go-ers and those who come to see the Fourth of July parade. Typical of early July, the sky was overcast but cleared in the afternoon.

 Beach volleyball on the sand next to the pier. Professional competitions take place here too. In the background are stands set up for a surf contest taking place in the ocean beyond.

Huntington Beach is also know as Surf City. Lifeguards here have to be among the best and busiest!

 This is Main Street. It starts right at the pier. Lots of traffic and the surf shops had their wares out on the sidewalks for the big weekend of tourists.

The restaurants and cafes spilled out onto the sidewalks giving diners a view of the world passing by.

 

I peeked into this huge swimwear shop just because of the fabulous chandeliers of orchids and tropical flowers. 

Main Street turns into a tree lined boulevard with homes of every type. Craftsman, Victorian, Modern, Mid Century, and Spanish homes are just a few of the types of architecture on this street and in the downtown area. Many of the houses were decorated for the 4th. The parade runs right along this street and many parties are held over the holiday.

Well, that's my little trip to Downtown Huntington Beach! This city has over 200,000 people now and there are lots of parks, beaches, colleges and schools and other  interesting sites . Thanks for visiting a little corner of the Sunset Coast today!

Have an Paradise day!

Cindy

The New Mattress Saga

Good day! It's absolutely gorgeous here in Huntington Beach, California. The sun is out, it's the perfect temperature, the birds are chirping and the flowers are blooming and there's a light ocean breeze. But this isn't about that. It's about my new mattress.

 

My old mattress was probably about 18 years old. It was getting kind of lumpy. It would be fine when I flipped it, but after a few days it developed sort of a hole where I slept. I would wake up with a sore back. Anyways, it was time for a new mattress.

I don't know about you, but I find it very hard to choose a new mattress. Sitting on a showroom mattress for a minute doesn't give me any idea how it will be sleeping on it. And mattresses, as you know, can be a big expense.

Well, I thought my problem was solved. I spent the night at a friend's house a while ago, and loved the mattress. She loved it too and had even purchased a second, larger king sized mattress for her master bedroom. Great. This is the mattress for me and the price was right. Even though she got it from a store in San Diego, they delivered it to her about 90 miles away.

So I got the info and ordered the same mattress for myself and they agreed to deliver it. It came, they set it up, they asked if I was satisfied. It felt great. Except for one thing I noticed later...It had a terrible chemical odor.

You see, I suffer from chemical sensitivities. Some things just make me sick. Test driving new cars makes me nauseated. Shoe stores full of cheap shoes.. ick. New carpet is just about the worst. I get dizzy, headaches, nausea and feel awful. Just sniffing this mattress made me swoon.

Okay, I thought, I'll just let it air out overnight. I slept downstairs and left the window open with the mattress. It still was stinky the next morning. Alright, I thought, I'll buy a zip up mattress cover, seal it in! I jumped onto Amazon and found a bedbug proof mattress protector with good reviews and also ordered a new mattress cover while I was at it.

And I slept downstairs, letting it air out until the items came a week later. Still stinky!

The protector came, I put it on with the mattress cover, the sheets, the comforter.. it still made my head spin.

What was I going to do? Stick it in another room for a year and let it air out? I decided to bite the bullet and call the company that sold me the mattress.  Miracle of miracles, they were very nice about it and agreed to swap it out with another mattress and deliver it for no extra charge. I had to wait a few days until they were delivering something up this way, but today the mattress arrived! It doesn't smell like chemicals. It's comfortable! It's awesome!

That should be the end of the story but it's not. When I ordered the first mattress, I got the smaller size box spring because the  new mattress was deeper  and I didn't want my bed too high. Well, the mattress I got today is thinner and it looked ridiculously low. I wasn't going to let it stay that way. I had another box spring in the thin size in another room, that wasn't being used. I hefted it out of there, got it under the mattress and it looks like a normal bed now! Whew!!!

 

Except that now I have a king size headboard with a queen size mattress.. Oh well, a project for another day. 'How to turn a king size headboard into a queen size'....

 

Have a comfortable day!

 

Cindy



Huntington Beach Butterfly Park: My Mini Adventure with the Dogs

Every morning I take my dogs Tinker and Pumpkin for a walk. It's not a very vigorous walk, they're old dogs. Tinker is a white poodle and 14, Pumpkin is an apricot mix of who knows what. I rescued her 7 years ago, but she is probably about as old as Tinker. When her fur grows out she looks like a teddy bear and everyone asks, 'What kind of dog is that?' Then they usually laugh or squeal because she looks so cute. Then they proceed to bend down to pet her...Big mistake! She snaps at them defensively.  Anyways, I digress!

 

Yesterday we went to the Butterfly Park.

Actually, it's the Norma Brandel Gibbs, former mayor of Huntington Beach, park.



Freesia

Name this flower!

It's a pretty little park. Lots of eucalyptus trees for butterflies to lay eggs and the sides are lined with garden beds full of plants that attract butterflies. The weather is great here, but the plants aren't in full bloom yet. I captured a few pretty flowers. The beds are taken care of by volunteers and they even have labels for many of the plants. Did I remember to write them down? No...!

                                                   

                                                                Sweet Pea Bush

      The other nice thing about 'Butterfly Park' is that it is fairly enclosed and people let their dogs run off leash. It's not allowed, so don't quote me on this!

You can also dedicate a bench or tree to a loved one in their memory. What a nice place to contemplate your love of someone lost.

 

How I see Pumpkin and Tinker on a Walk

Anyways, it was a beautiful morning, the birds were chirping, and tweeting and cawing. As we were leaving, I noticed a large dog running off leash. No big deal, but then a man started shoo'ing it away. It was a COYOTE! We have such a coyote problem in the city of Huntington Beach. So I quickly left the park with my little appetizers doggies. I guess I'll have to be more careful at Butterfly Park. Did I mention I didn't see any butterflies?


 



Where do you like to go to see nature where you live?                                                      

Have a peaceful day! Cindy