San Clemente, California
Beach Trip Report
San Clemente Hotels
San Clemente Beach Rentals
November
by
Jerry Henderson

Visit our sponsors - The Sea Horse Oceanfront Resort

San Clemente is the first place we lived after we got married in 1968. Thirty-one years later after having lived in a lot of places, we are finally returning to spend a few nights in this beach town. We picked November because we knew that there was a good chance that the weather would still be warm and sunny but the crowds would be gone.

We weren't wrong. A Santa Ana condition is in effect. That means that warm air is moving from the inland to the ocean giving us warm temperatures and crystal clear skies. It must be in the high 70's today.

San Clemente is located about 60 miles south of Los Angeles and 50 miles north of San Diego. Just to the south is the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base and San Onofre State Beach. San Onofre has one of the few beaches in Southern California where nudity is tolerated. That section is at the far south end of the state beach.

We chose to stay at the Sea Horse because of its condo style units. If you mention you saw them in On the Beach you get up to a 20% discount, depending on the time of year and day of the week. Its right across the street from the beach and the San Clemente Pier.

Surprising as it may seem there are only a few lodgings on the beach in San Clemente. Many places advertise to make you think they're on the beach but they're not. The few beach resorts are all right here in this area by the pier. It makes for a neat little beach community. There are several good places to eat, an espresso bar, pizza place, and a convenience market. Once you're settled in there is really no need to drive anywhere.

Its about 1:30 p.m. when we arrive at the Sea Horse. We'd wanted to be there earlier but you know how that is. There was a number of little things that kept getting in our way of leaving our home. But that was all behind us now. Terry, part of the Sea Horse management team, gave us a very warm welcome and gave us the keys to our suite. The Sea Horse features suites ranging from studios to 2 bedrooms. All have full kitchens.

Walking into our suite we were attracted to the great view. The whole front of the suite, which includes the living room and dining area, looks out over the beach, the pier, and the Pacific Ocean. We dropped our gear and rushed to the window to soak up the view. Then we saw that we had two decks, one off the dining area and one off the living room. Stepping out onto the deck off the living room we breathed in that great salt air and our cares of workday life vanished.

We hadn't stopped to buy groceries on the way down. So we did have to get in the car one more time to go get food. The market we chose was Bristol Farms, about 12 miles inland, but well worth the trip. Bristol Farms is an upscale market chain. They have an incredible deli, great breads, and delicious desserts. Since we didn't want to do any serious cooking we bought Black Forest Ham slices, California Rolls, and a couple of prepared dishes that we could just pop in the microwave. We also got ice for the Margaritas.

Back at the Sea Horse, we unloaded the groceries and went for the first of several walks on the beach. San Clemente is blessed with one of the most beautiful beaches in Southern California. It stretches for several miles. On one side are bluffs and the other the ocean. There are several great surfing spots along the beach. Yet, the ocean is also very safe for swimming because of the generally even and gently sloping ocean bottom.

I remember body surfing at the end of "T" street (Trafalgar) when I used to live here. That's where we headed for after we got onto the beach. It was around 4:00 p.m. and we saw lots of surfers out in the water. As we got up to the staircase that comes down from "T" street we were amused to find that many of the surfers were young boys. My wife thought they were probably third graders.

The scene was right out of an ad promoting the California lifestyle. While much of the country is hunkering down for winter, here kids are running down to the beach with their surfboards. Of course they all had on wet suits because the water is in the low 60's this time of year, not exactly tropical.

We watched several adults lead a large group of youngsters down the stairs . The adults had their arms full of hot dog roasting stuff. While they set up at several tables, their kids went rushing into the water with their surfboards.

This is a family beach and a family town. It's common, like we saw today, a father come down with his surfboard and his two kids with their boards. The beach is safe and quiet. There are no busy highways to thurst there noise onto you.

When we finally went to bed that evening, we slept with the sliding glass door wide open. Our bedroom was right off one of our decks. It was great to lie in bed and listen to the surf roll in. There are train tracks that run along the beach and several trains do come through during the night. I woke once that night but quickly was lulled back to sleep by the rhythm of the waves.

Saturday we slept in. After we finally got up and fixed a light breakfast I walked down the street a few buildings to get a decaf coffee. I know that's pretty tame. When we lived in Seattle I lived on latte's. Now my stomach can neither handle caffeine or milk. So, just old decaf. I took it back up to the suite and joined Pat sitting on the deck.

We were soon to be treated to a new site. Besides Amtrak running on this train track, we learned that the Metrolink runs a beach special down from the inland valleys of San Bernardino and Riverside. The train warning bells began to clang and the crossing gates started to come down. We heard the whistle blow on the Metrolink train before we saw it come into view.
It was going slowly now as it prepared to stop in front of the pier. We wondered if a few people would get off the train. To our amazement, hundreds of people began disembarking. They had beach baskets, beach toys, kids and stollers. It tool about five minutes before everyone is off and the train begins pulling away.

Would we have to deal with a mob of people on the beach today? Nope. The people quickly dispersed and were absorbed by the long sandy beach. When we finally got around to going out to the beach, we had to walk only a few hundred yards to find a nice spot all to our selves. Both of us had books to read and I also had my boogie board and fins.

Oh, the warm sand felt so good to our bodies. We haven't stretched out on the sand for a long time. We were feeling very smug because we didn't have to leave the beach tonight. We would retire when we felt like it to Margaritas and our deck.

After awhile I finally got up the courage to try the water. It was cold for a minute but I adjusted to it. And that's without a wetsuit. I dove into the next wave and then began paddling my boogie board out to catch some waves. The surf was small and broken. It wasn't great boarding but I had fun. I stayed out for about 45 minutes. Then I needed that nice warm sand. It felt so good to soak up the sun.

Around 3 p.m. we walked back to our suite. Our son Bryce was coming down with his girlfriend, Jennifer, to spend the night with us. He showed up a little later, got situated in his bedroom, and then we sat on the deck, drank Margaritas, watched the Metrolink arrive and cart away its hundreds of people, and watched the sun set into the ocean.

For dinner we decided to walk over to the pier and eat at the restaurant located on the pier. Because of its setting on the pier over the ocean, this is a very popular restaurant. Too popular for us it turned out. The waitress told us the wait was 1 1/2 hours. We were too hungry to wait that long. So, we got into Bryce's car and drove about a mile from the beach to a restaurant that served seafood. I ended up ordering prime rim. Go figure.

Back at the beach we walked out on the pier to see what the fisherman were up to. It turns out that its lobster season. For $26 you can buy lobster catching gear. It consists of a net and 100 feet of rope. You put some bait in it. Most fisherman were using cut up squid for bait. Then you lower it over the side of the pier and let the net sink to the bottom of the ocean. You then have coffee, fish, eat, watch the ocean and then when you feel so suited, you pull up the net to see if a lobster has wandered in to it to eat the bait. We didn't see anyone with any lobster. We did watch a fisherman wage a fight to land what turned out to be a big rock.

The waves again that night worked their magic on us as we drifted off to heavenly sleep.

Sunday morning I was up early for a bicycle ride. I didn't get but 1/2 a mile when I saw that a farmer's market was being set up. I rushed back down the hill to the Sea Horse and into our suite. I told Pat, Bryce, and Jennifer to get dressed quickly so that we could get to the farmer's market before the Metrolink came again and disgorged hundreds of people.

As we strolled along the booths that contained fresh fruit, fish, and baked items, we learned that the farmer's market is, weather permitting, every Sunday morning. Just past the market place was a crafts bazaar. Here there were many homemade items of quite good quality and variety. The craft bazaar is the first Sunday of every month. Again, weather permitting.

Back at the Sea Horse, we made sandwiches and sat out on our deck. A surfing contest was being held just to the north of the pier. We walked down and watched for awhile and then took a walk out on the pier.

Our friends Ton and Kathy showed up about the time that Bryce and Jennifer had to leave. We said goodbye to them and then went back to the beach with our friends who had driven down to have dinner with us.

Dinner was at Rick's Tropicana Grill, about 50 yards from the Sea Horse. They feature Mexican food but you can also get hamburgers, chicken, fish, and ribs. We stuck with the Mexican food and ate at an outside table where we could see the ocean and watch the people board the Metrolink for their return home.

We all laughed at how this minor event had captured our interest and that we looked forward to watching the train bring people and then take them away. I was very impressed that so many people would choose to leave their cars behind and take this relaxing way to the beach. It's very European. If all of these people had driven cars to the beach the street would have been jammed with people in cars looking for a place to park. Even on this autumn weekend there was little parking to be had near the beach. But we never felt like the beach was crowded. It remained wonderfully lazy.

Tom and Kathy left after dinner and we settled in to enjoy the last of our beach nights listening to the surf ebb and flow.

If you're looking for night life, San Clemente isn't your kind of place. Though its grown in the 31 years we've been gone, it still has a sleepy kick back atmosphere to it. And don't expect Hyatt like accommodations at the Sea Horse. Its a beach place, a very nice beach place with great views and a super management team. For example, on Sunday evening, Rob, called us to see if there was anything we needed before he and Terry went out for the dinner. If you're a beach person, you'll like the Sea Horse and love San Clemente.

Visit our sponsors - The Sea Horse Oceanfront Resort.

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