Every time I walk out on the wide, San Clemente pier, about 1,400 feet long, I marvel at how that sturdy wood structure could withstand constant ocean buffeting. There it perches on long “telephone poles” driven down, I suppose, to bedrock, and barely sways even during a storm.

You see fishermen on it all the time, but I only saw several who had actually caught fish. But that could be because I’m a late riser and never see fisherman early in the AM when fish are the biggest feeders.

I love July 4th, in San Clemente, because you can reserve a table right on the pier, have dinner, drinks and watch the fireworks taking place just a few hundred feet away towards the end of the pier.

Or, if you can get invited, you can spend a more cozy, private-party social evening up at the Casa Romantica, home of San Clemente’s founder, Ole Hanson, back in the twenties, before everything hit the fan in the crash of 1929.

There at the Casa, you overlook the entire pier basin, but especially the pier and the ensuing fireworks with perhaps a better perspective and less neck strain than from being right on the pier.

Yes, nearby Dana Point has its lovely harbor, and restaurants with fabulous harbor and coastal views like the Chart House and Cannon’s (where I proposed to Debbie at a Window Table),

but the harbor is sooooo commercial, with fiberglass, canvas, and concrete all over the place. While our San Clemente pier, is real honest creaky wood…a real joy to behold and walk upon. —Bill

A highpoint of the annual Dana Point, CA Festival of Whales (March 3-4, and 10-11) is the rows of dozens of booths near Hennesey’s Tavern on PCH. They always have one of those big inflatable slides that the kids skim down, and plenty of non-profit booths handing out information about water quality, save the whales, Dana Point Marine Museum, the toll road, and much more.

I always buy a pair of sun glasses, but only if they have polarized ones. I am always astonished that people even WEAR sunglasses that are not polarized. Polarization reduces glare, hugely. To see an example of how polarization works in sunglasses, go HERE

In CA, ALL sunglasses sold have to be UV protected ones. But how many car accidents happen because someone cannot see a head on car coming at them due to intense glare from the sun, off water, or off a wet pavement.

I like the wrap around style above because your peripheral vision is not blocked. And I love being able to see when there’s intense glare coming at me. EVERYONE should throw away all non-polarized sunglasses and get ones that ARE. It should be a law, the difference in safety is just that great. But don’t look for the sunglasses manfacturing industry to spread the word. They are happy with the reduced manufacturing cost and thus super-huge profit margins in making either just DARK sunglasses, or (in CA) UV sunglasses. —Bill