Oakland and Costa Mesa…….

So we were flying out of Oakland at 9am so had to be up and ready to catch the shuttle at 7:30 this morning. Maria, Kami, Matt and i all came up to Oakland in one set of clothes and all flew back to Lon Beach in the same ones. It was only like a 20 hour trip so we didn't need all our luggage etc so  only the essentials were packed, you know, cell phone, iPods, cameras and of course laptops!

We caught the hotel shuttle and one of the stewardesses from our flight caught it with us. We’d met her yesterday on the flight in and found out she was going to the show too. We got to our hotel and also found her to be at the same hotel as us.

Mari and Matt waiting for the shuttle     Long Beach airport                           Long Beach Airport

  

The stewardess on the plane came over to see how we had enjoyed the show and also offered us all a free Bloody Mary, i passed but Kami, Matt and Maria took her up on her offer. We arrived back at Long Beach around 11am, Matt and Maria took the shuttle bus to the hotel over in Costa Mesa while Kami and i waited at the airport as my good friends Gail and Joe were flying in from Phoenix in half and hour.

Gail and Joe arriving in Long Beach

   

We all headed to the car which id parked up for 24 hours yesterday and then drove the half hour over to the hotel in Costa Mesa, was funny that just as we arrived Matt and Maria were just getting out of the shuttle bus they had taken, they had left a  good hour before us though! We checked in, unpacked and arranged for us all to meet in the lobby in a couple of hours time.

Hotel lobby                                                Lilly's in the lobby                                     View from the hotel room

    

I managed to fall asleep listening to the pros and Cons and Kami managed to get a couple of hours sleep too. Kami, Gail and i met in the lobby at 3:30 and drove over to Newport beach to watch the sunset and grab a cocktail before going out for dinner.

We had about 45 minutes before the sunset  and took a walk down the pier, there were a lot more clouds in the sky than there had been the last couple of nights so the sunset wasn't going to be as good but we decided to watch it from the end of the pier. Kami was hungry and bought a corn dog, something else i don't think I've ever tried and it was nice, real nice!

Gail in winter jacket         Newport pier                                              Clouds before sunset

   

Took a few pictures along the pier and tried a few “artsy” pics but they didn't turn out!

Kami and Gail vetting pictures            Newport beach                                   Sunset clouds

We took a walk along the beach after sunset,Gail and Kami went to take some more pics under the pier which I'll have to get off Gail as a couple of them are really cool.

     

I went for a wander round and then met up on the beach. The idea was to get a cocktail before dinner however we spotted a donut store instead and settled for a donut each! We made our way back to the car via a few side streets along the beach looking at the houses all lit up for Christmas.

  

So on the drive back to the Westin in Costa Mesa we went a different way and happened to come across what was a Christian church type place all done up with lights, I've never seen anything like it in my life! and its probably best i let the pictures and video do the “talking”

   

Cristian Christmas lights

We got back to the hotel around 6, all met up in the lobby at half past and headed over to Claim Jumper for dinner, Maria wasn't feeling too good so stayed in the room and relaxed for the night so it was just myself, Kami, Gil, Joe and Matt. We originally wanted to go to the nice Italian place called Maggianos however it was fully booked and nothing was available till after 9. Id never been to a Claim Jumper which i believe is a chain but we had a great night with some nice drinks and some good food.

     

Lots more pictures on the link below:

View Full Album