This will be perfect, I thought.
Reservecalifornia.com showed one cottage available at Crystal Cove State Park. I quickly booked it without checking my wife's calendar.
I assumed April's holiday and work schedule matched mine, and that she could easily take an extra day off for a last-minute getaway. Not quite.
Luckily, Crystal Cove was high on her list of desirable destinations. And, she kind of likes spending time with me. So, although it wasn't easy, April rearranged her schedule to save my grand plans from becoming a costly catastrophe.
Crystal Cove State Park includes miles of beaches and back country south of Newport Beach, along with a Historic District that features a few dozen cottages built from the 1920s to 1940s on and around the sand at the mouth of Los Trancos Creek. Now modernized and renovated, they are available for nightly rentals, sleeping up to eight people.
Ours was #45, aka the Soda Shack, because that's what it was back in the day. It's a one-bedroom, one-bath unit with a sitting/dining area and full kitchen and is accessorized with period Coca-Cola memorabilia. It's one of the few units that doesn't have a beach view, but the sand is just steps away.
So, after checking in, we took advantage of our shore access and headed north for a 3.5-mile walk. The tide was out, leaving a wide, flat beach with firm sand. A pleasant breeze blew onshore. Catalina's peaks stood above the fog on the horizon, obscuring the rest of the island.
A cliff marked the end of our walk on the sand, so we followed the Bluff Top Trails back to the cottages, arriving in time for sunset. As the sun dipped out of sight, the festive notes of reveille played from the Beachcomber Cafe and marked the end of another day.
We didn't have a dinner reservation, so we put our name in for a table assuming it would be a long wait. Surprisingly, we were seated right away.
The restaurant is on the sand, and with no walls to speak of, it provides a front row seat to enjoy the sunset and the ocean breeze. Since we weren't that hungry, we opted for multiple appetizers instead of entrees, somehow thinking it would be less food. It wasn't, of course, but we didn't regret any of our choices: baked brie (amazing!), Buffalo chicken rolls, Kobe meatballs and garlic shrimp.
We returned to our cottage early, and although it faces the main path to the restaurant and beach, the foot traffic soon ebbed and gave way to a quiet evening.
We awoke the next morning to a thick marine layer, which called for coffee to chase away the chill. After grabbing two cups to go from The Beachcomber, we returned to the cottage's small deck overlooking the creek to watch the resident quail swoop and skitter among the trees and brush.
Once fully caffeinated, we embarked on another walk, heading south this time to Moro Beach. Again, the sand ended in a cliff.
We paused to watch a lone surfer bobbing in the swells close to the base of the cliff waiting for the right wave. When it arrived, he dropped into a head high roller, broke left and let out a whoop of delight.
Soon, it was our turn to be on the water. Newport Harbor is a short drive from Crystal Cove and a great place to paddleboard. We made that our last stop on the way home.
It was the perfect ending - and metaphor - for our getaway. Paddleboarding always starts off a little shaky. It requires focus to keep your balance, start paddling and move forward. But with a little luck - and in my case, a lot of help from my wife - everything goes smoothly in the end.
Eric Harnish lives in Castaic.

Crystal Cove Cottages
crystalcove.org/beachcottages
949-376-6200

The Beachcomber Cafe
thebeachcombercafe.com
949-376-6900