Journeying to China by way of Newport Beach - Part 2 of 3

Brad Kittelsen and family are very involved with their church, and Rodney wanted to be involved with that as well. A trip to Newport Beach followed, as the family wanted to take us to lunch at their favorite pizza joint that is located there. We arrived there quickly enough and found that streets and parking lots next to the beach had been temporarily closed down. Parking was available on the street away from the beach, but for some reason there were a lot of people packed in to this here in town, and most parking spaces were filled. As it turns out, Newport Beach was celebrating its 100th birthday. This was the day of the Newport Beach Centennial Grand Finale and the “100 Years Between the Piers” celebration. Activities included food booths, refreshments, an art walk, exhibits, concerts with Sugar Ray being the featured entertainer, and more. That all sounded like fun, but we had come for lunch and perhaps a walk on the pier and wanted to save our energy for our journey to China.

We did finally find a parking spot a few blocks from the dive style pizza restaurant called “Original Pizza”. The place serves great classic style pizza in a casual atmosphere. Apparently, the place is quiet popular, and I could understand why the Brad Kittelsen family enjoyed eating here. After lunch, we did walk around a bit for a bit of beachcombing and crowd watching, but the pier was closed for the celebration.

We arrived back at the Kittelsen house later in the afternoon and rested a bit. We were more concerned that Rodney should rest a bit, even nap a bit, and put his legs up, as we would be going on a flight that would last about 13 or 14 hours. He did nap a bit, but before long he was enjoying time with the grandkids again. In addition, Carmel had prepared a very nice home style dinner, Filipino style, that is. I had mentioned to her my Filipino friends and my own trip to the Philippines, and my love for Filipino food, especially pansit. Next thing I knew, this is what we were being served. This dinner was a great finale to our weekend.

By 8:30 p.m. we were at the airport. Again, check-in was quick, thanks to alert Cathay Pacific staff who saw that we were traveling with a wheelchair and directed us to the front of lines where we screened our baggage and checked in for our flight. We fumbled a bit through security, and at last we were waiting at the gate. Rodney and I were wearing our People to People Ambassador name tags, and at the gate, we befriended other attorneys and their guests who would be joining us on our journey through China.