The St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa Dana Point

I flew out of Sacramento, since the kids and I had been visiting my family in the Central Valley, and the kids were staying with my mom and dad while I was away. I was so looking forward to getting to the beach, because the Valley heat was sweltering, and my stress levels were high. The flight went well and was not even full, so that was nice. DH picked me up at the John Wayne Airport without incident. At check in at the St. Regis, Monarch Beach, they confirmed our dinner reservation for the ...

This morning DH left early for sessions at his executive summit. I had room service ($40--it amazes me how expensive this place is!). Then I was off to the spa (Spa Gaucin) for my Mineral Trio. It was great. The treatment room was beautiful--two treatment tables, shower, spa tub and fireplace...all for me. :) I had a salt scrub first, then the volcanic mudwrap, then mineral bath, then a massage with moisturizer. The aesthetician was a guy from Budapest--he had been doing his thing all over th...

We spent some of our day just relaxing, sipping cappucinos and looking out the window while we sat at a little bistro table. You could see the hotel grounds and pool, as well as the ocean. We watched a rehearsal for a wedding, and an interesting couple on their balcony from that little bistro table. Tonight there was no Summit dinner, so we got to have our dinner at the Monarch Bay restaurant. You have to take a golf cart-type little car down to the beach from the hotel, and the only way you ...

Had to get up at the unGodly hour of 5:45. Ugggghhh. Had our usual breakfast at the hotel and then got the car packed up, and checked out. Said goodbye to the breakfast lady...she was so nice. She gave us some peaches and orange juice for the road. Dropped the kids off at mom and dad's by 7:15 or so, and DH and I were off to the airport. The drive went smoothly, and the traffic wasn't too bad. We parked our car in the Economy long term parking (only $7/day--and there is no other longterm park...

We arrived at the John Wayne Airport, and our driver was waiting as planned. He helped us with our bags which seemed to take forever coming out of the chute. Our drive to the car was kinda fun because the driver was interesting to talk to. He is married to a Japanese lady and goes to Japan every 4 months. He is learning Japanese, so we talked about Japan and the Japanese language, and food. Also learned that he used to be one of Johnny Carson's body guards. Gotta love Orange County. :) It was...

DH left early to attend the conference. I had room service bring me papaya with lime and granola and some tea to drink. I remembered how good the papaya was last year. It was fantastic this year too. The granola was disgusting; it was more like a meusli (they had that on the menu too, so I don't know what that would be like). But there were no crunchy bites of oat nuggets like you would normally get in granola. So there's my hot tip of the day: Don't order granola at the St. Regis. Then it wa...

Summary: I am now in West Hollywood, LA, in the land of free refills and valet parking. In the last 2 weeks I have been in backpacker mode in simple Fijian accomodation, sometimes without electricity or running water, but then compensated by staying in a top resort in California. Due to flying to LA over the Date Line I managed to have Christmas Day in both Fiji and the USA. That does not seem to have resulted in double the number of presents, however. [8 new pics also now attached to previou...