San Clemente

7:00 – 9:00 am
The sun just topped the sandy cliffs. A dad was fishing, two boys maybe four and five years old ran shrieking through the surf. I sat down on a rock to eat the still warm cinnamon roll picked up at Surf Donut. Until I was inexorably surrounded by seven silent staring seagulls.

Walked the sandy trail beside the rr tracks. Many baseball-capped runners of various ages. The surf sounded stereophonically from the ocean on my left and bouncing off the cliffs to my right.

By a little after 8 hard core beach volleyball was happening and the waves a little south of the pier were swarming with surfers and boogie boarders.

I really enjoyed the beach. Very near Laguna Beach, too!

I lived in San Clemente for just over a year, and it is one of the most fantastic places on earth! The climate is nearly perfect all year round. There is tons to do and you see something amazing just about every day. Make this a definite stop on your list of places to go!

Rainbow Sandals has their factory here so you can get great flip flops at wholesale prices.

It’s about equidistant from north Orange County and San Diego (though technically it’s in Orange County, but at the very southern tip.) It’s a quaint, nice surf town, but the difference is that it seems like its own “county”, if you will. It doesn’t feel like either anything that’s part of Orange County nor north San Diego county. It feels a bit like a smaller Santa Barbara thrown down south.

(Granted, it helps that one of my favorite rock acts, Fu Manchu, hail from here.)

Watching the sun go down from The Fisherman’s bar on the pier has to be one of the best things I’ve ever done.

I used to come here to surf and hang out as a teenager into my 20’s. I moved here with my wife Gabriella and son Jake in 1999. Since then we’ve added another boy, Samuel and a Jack Russel named Zoe.

My brother got married in San Clemente – his wife was born & raised there. I fell in love with the place! Can’t wait to visit again & get some more Rainbow sandals ;)

This is a wonderful little beach town!
My brother lives here, and visiting him is wonderful. Mind you, I don’t even get along with him.
Most housing is Spanish-style villas, all sturdily build on the slopes leading down to the beach.
Headed there? Stay at the Double Tree- it’s a very nice hotel at a good price. Also, make sure to eat at The BeachFire, a killer new restaurant with a great bar, great service, a variety of local artist’s work displayed on the walls.