Lowering the Curve
26 September 2007 | Newport Beach, CA
John
We left Catalina on the 22nd, bound for Newport Beach. We've been here 4 days now, and we're still awed by the wealth around here. Not nouveau-riche, pretty-boy celebrity money, but "we made it the old-fashioned way...we inherited it" money. The houses are classy in the extreme, and the boats are amazing, bordering on sick, but at least the people still put on their pants the same way you and I do...with a little help from their butlers.
In the midst of this pristine example of capitalism, we have secured a mooring ball, in a canal on the shore of swanky Balboa Island, for the princely sum of...$5. It's kind of analogous to paying 2 bits for a room at the Ritz.
We've done some exploring by dinghy, and by car. We had several shore-based errands to run yesterday, so we rented a wreck for the day. After doing no better than 7 knots for the last month, I could hardly breathe at the rippin' speed of 35 mph! Red and green lights should be side-by-side, not one on top of the other.
School has been going well, and we even prepped the toe-rail and applied a coat of varnish today. Now it's off to the "Fun Zone" to let the kids be kids. Maddie and Sophie should enjoy it, too.