Enjoying Summertime @ Terranea Resort

Summer vacation, ahhhh! We’re trying new restaurants, exploring new sites, visiting old friends, playing lots of basketball, swimming, bicycling on the beach and enjoying the charms of my hometown here in Los Angeles County. My brother, sister-in-law, and nephews are visiting and we are having a blast! Earlier in the week we spent a couple days at Terranea Resort on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

About a ten minute drive from my home, Terranea is a breathtaking oceanfront resort surrounded on three sides by the Pacific Ocean with Catalina Island across the channel.

The Catalina Kitchen offers indoor and outdoor seating. The patio overlooks the resort pool and the ocean. It’s hard to beat a fabulous outdoor breakfast on a beautiful summer morning.

Crispy light deep-pocketed Belgian waffles are made to order. The waffle bar is a kid’s breakfast dream-come-true with chocolate sauce, almonds, gummy bears, chocolate sprinkles, colored sprinkles, M&Ms, white chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, chocolate shavings, Oreo cookie crumbles, toasted coconut, as well as the usual accompaniments of syrup, butter, whipped cream, and fruit.

And an apple!

Jett proclaims that he “loves buffets.”

Not usually fans of buffets, the adults were all quite happy with the quality and selection. On weekends the buffet here also includes dim sum.

While under construction Terranea Resort became a magnet for thousands of seagulls. Ever eco-friendly, the resort contracted with falconers to fly hawks, falcons and owls over the property to keep the unwanted seagull population at bay. We learned that the mere presence of an owl on site is a strong deterrent to many unwanted birds and rodents.

The largest falcon in the world, the Gyrfalcon pursues birds in flight at a speed of over 200 miles per hour. Just before catching the prey, these falcons typically fly up and then dive straight down onto their target. They can and often do fly long distances, so Chin is fitted with a radio-tracker in order to aid recovery. His handler recently found him quite a ways up the coast from Terranea.

A versatile hunter and all-purpose gun dog, the German Shorthaired Pointer possesses keen scenting power and high intelligence. The breed is proficient with many different types of game and sport, including trailing, retrieving, and pointing. Friendly ambassador Robbie Meathead rides around the resort in the falconer’s golf cart until his services are needed to scare away pesky crows from the lawns.

After breakfast and learning about falconry, it was time to head over to the resort pool.

For dinner, we enjoyed fresh California comfort cuisine along with a spectacular sunset at Nelson’s. It’s kid-friendly and dog-friendly too. Families bring their pooches for a walk along the ocean trails then stop by Nelson’s to sit around the fire pits to enjoy a drink and a snack.

Nelson’s is named for Mike Nelson, an ex-Navy frogman played by Lloyd Bridges in the TV series Sea Hunt from 1958 to 1961. Parts of Sea Hunt were filmed on the location where Terranea sits today.

Stone recommends his dinner choices at Nelson’s. Start with the warm pretzel and share it with your family, enjoy a crisp caesar salad, for the main course try fish & chips, and don’t forget the ice cream sandwich for dessert!

We hope you are enjoying your summer too!