island

By Angela Rocco DeCarlo When living in Chicago I covered California more frequently than other venues. Health spas. Theme Parks. Beaches. The entire state seemed to be a playland where the perfect entertainment could be located and devoured. Loved it. Now thatI’m living in exile in Southern California it is fun to display the land’s end treasures for Midwesteran pals who come to visit. When my friend, Dianne, and her family visited me recently, I wanted to give her a taste of Orange County, California, to take back against the next nasty Chicago winter. What could be better than lunch on the beach and a shopping spree on Balboa Island? As a Chicagoan I’m fascinated by the surfing culture of the Pacific Ocean beaches. I’ve been to the charming surfing museums in Huntington Beach and get a kick out of watching surfers calculating waves to catch the best ride back onto the sand. In fact, I’m still agog by my son’s next door neighbor’s garage which houses endless racks of wetsuits, ...