the mini-break

Almost exactly a year ago I knew I'd be working on our anniversary so Matt and I once again celebrated early. I was off and Matt had two days off in a row so I wanted to take a little trip somewhere not too far. I wanted ocean. I wanted quaint. I wanted peace & quiet and just us two. I went  onto Sunset Magazine's website (Sunset Magazine is a phenomenal resource) and just searched for affordable beach front. They pointed us to a few places but we settled on Pacific Edge Hotel in Laguna Beach.

As I looked up rooms I was happy to hear Matt was willing to pay a little extra for an ocean front room.  We got to the room and had a furry friend waiting for us on the bed. Needless to say, he came home with us.

Unfortunately Matt worked 'til 11 the night before but I booked the room for a late check out so we could wake up in the place and sleep to the sounds of crashing waves. I went out to the balcony to check out our view and you could actually see the waves crashing nearby thanks to the hotel restaurant shining a search light on that part of beach.

Can you believe it, the sound of the ocean was actually TOO loud. We had to sleep with the sliding door closed because the waves crashing into the rocks would have kept us awake. It was worth it though to have spent the night because in the morning we woke up to this view.

You can't see in this picture very well but there was a staircase nearby that you could take that led you right down to the beach.

As I browsed the room service menu I laughed at the "in case of a tsunami" warning. Good to know...

After breakfast we headed across the street to Taco Loco for lunch since they were supposed to have tofu tacos. We took them to go and ate them on the main beach.

This is where we sat. It was a little patch of grass on a park on the main beach.

And wouldn't you know it on my day off they were filming a freaking movie. One of Matt's favorite directors Oliver Stone was at the helm and we got to see him in action. Well Matt did, I tried very hard to avoid looking at filming since I was not at work.

We walked around the town a lil' and Matt was bummed we missed this Monster Fest. We later learned the theatre had been paid to change the marquee from the movie's production. They duped us.

We went to the hot tub and tried to chill in there but it was way too hot. Luckily the pool was heated and we spent awhile chilling in there. A heated pool has got to be the ultimate luxury.

As the sun set we headed for dinner at the Deck lounge which is on the property. They didn't have a lot of options for us so we just had a few appetizers and I had two very delicious happy hour margaritas.

The hotel room decor itself was very "endless summer" beach cottage. It really suited the vibe of the place though so I couldn't complain.

This is where we'd eat room service. If only I had that view every day.

The next day we had massages and I had a body scrub. HEAVEN. I don't think I've ever felt so relaxed. Then went to eat at this vegan place called The Stand. Nowadays it's just easier to just go for vegetarian restaurants if at all possible because we have better luck with Matt's food. The place was pretty good but the staff was a bunch of cranky hippies. This hippie insisted on lunch by the beach again and dipped my toes in the water one more time.

I'd actually never been to Laguna Beach before and I quite liked it. I heard that it was used for some reality TV show but I don't have cable or watch reality TV so I didn't know about it.

My impression of the city was unaffected and we hope to come back for a longer period of time.