One of the things I was most looking forward to this summer was the whale watching trip I had planned for us to take. I bought discounted tickets on Groupon and figured that it would be a fun day out as a family but I had no idea how much fun we would actually have. We drove down to Balboa a few hours before our tour started, got our boarding passes, then did a bunch of touristy things. We took a walk down the peninsula and watched people ride the mechanical bull shark, we got hand dipped corn dogs that rivaled Disneyland's, rented a big family sized bike and rode down the coast and back up again, then finished it off with frozen bananas and ice cream before boarding the boat.
Then we said goodbye to the beautiful California shoreline and were surprised to find that the ocean is filled with animals as soon as you leave the harbor. We saw huge pods of dolphins, seals, and even whales just a couple miles away from the shore.
But the show-stopper was this humpback whale that Liam had been hoping to catch a glimpse of. He was massive and very intimidating in our small boat.
I would say our trip ended there but I have to tell the rest. The boat pulled back into the harbor just as the wind picked up and lightning started to strike. The captain warned us rain was coming and to get to our cars quickly. He was right and we ended up running to the parking lot through the rain then we sat in traffic since it turns out the beaches were closed and everyone was asked to leave. We sat in traffic for 2 hours and were still in Newport Beach. So, we booked a hotel and spent the night... with no luggage. It was very chaotic but also very spontaneous and super fun for the kids. It was definitely a first for us to literally be stranded an hour from home. And, though our Groupon purchased day at the beach turned into probably the most expensive day of the summer, I wouldn't trade the memories for anything.
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