Newport Dunes

Friday May 15, 1992

Alarm goes off at 6:30. I had forgotten what a dreadful sound that is! I'm too tired. We take 20 minutes to rise. By 9 a.m. we are ready to leave. Frank calls Robbie. They're ready too, so we leave 1/2 hour early to meet for breakfast at Millie's in Mission Hills. We have a great breakfast and are on the road with our trailers by 11 a.m.

We arrive about 12:30 at Newport Dunes, a beautiful RV park 1/2 mile from Balboa Island. We have all day to see the area on our bicycles. Then we drive out on Balboa Island and take the ferry to Balboa. It's nothing like I remember as a teenager. It's crowded with expensive homes and boats.

We have steak dinner with Robbie and Delores in our trailer. Our friends begin to arrive about 7:30. By 10:00 all 9 are here. I felt really good all day today, even riding the bikes.

I have never been to Newport Beach, which is a coastal community in Orange County, Southern California, but did a little research on the town, which has a population of approximately 85,000 and a median home price of $1 million. Definitely, a place for the rich and famous! Where I live in Northern California a comparable community might be Sausalito or Tiburon in Marin County.

The campground where they stayed looks just beautiful, right on the water with a nice sandy beach, swimming lagoon and marina. At $225/night for their current summer rate the place is too pricey for my camping budget. I hope they got a group rate!