As the summer is coming to an end, I have been doing a lot of reflecting on everything that happened. My friends and I made this awesome summer bucket list at the beginning and were enthusiastic about completing it. For starters the list had roughly 20 things on it and we probably only got around to doing about half of them. Shoot for the moon, land on the stars right? While some of the items were simple, common things like going to a certain ice cream place or visiting the OC Fair, others were more eccentric and required some travel and preparation. We didn’t mind though because we were excited and ready for some adventure. We learned quickly, however, that living out a real bucket list is a lot different than what you see on Pinterest and other social media sites that make it look like everything is easy as pie and always goes as planned.
We had seen amazing photos of these secret pools in Laguna Beach where lone swimmers basked in the sun as they floated in manmade lagoons along the shoreline. We immediately added this to our bucket list and one day finally decided to go. We had done our fair share of research (or so we thought) and learned that we would have to hike a little ways off of the beach and climb across areas of rocks that could be pounded by waves if you crossed at the wrong time. We decided this would require a little more preparation than a regular beach day so we packed our bags with snacks and water and wore sneakers. Keep in mind we usually go to the beach with nothing but a towel and no shoes so this was a big deal for us. We arrive at Victoria Beach in Laguna and after walking down about 100 super steep stairs we find ourselves at the regular beach. We look up a map on our phones to determine which way the secret pool is and then head North. It’s hotter than heck and trekking across the sand in high top converse is not exactly a pleasant experience. We cross over a few little rocks along the beach- literally like 10 little rocks scattered in the sand- and ta-da there is this so called “secret mermaid pool”. All we could do was laugh at ourselves when we saw the thing. It looked like a kiddy pool at a crappy motel. Literally overflowing with babies and toddlers and their parents. Over half of the people in it were probably (hopefully) wearing diapers. Not only did we come super over-prepared with our snack and water-filled backpacks and our sneakers, but the pool looked nothing like what we had seen on the internet. We walked a little further past it thinking there was no way this could be the right one but we soon learned that there were definitely no other secret pools and this was it. We opted not to join the 30+ small children and families that were enjoying the warm shallow water and headed back to the regular beach for a below average beach day with strong currents and big waves that made it near impossible to enter the water. Lesson learned here: social media lies people.
Expectation
vs.
Reality
Attempt number two at completing the bucket list led us about 40 minutes and three freeways inland to the Anaheim Packing District, which is known for having a unique food selection and an artsy setting. We had one place in mind: The Iron Press. This place apparently has really good food and is unique because everything is made on waffles. We sat down at an outside table and were drooling over the menu when we realized that no one was coming to take our order so one of my friends went inside to order a drink and to find a waitress. He comes back outside looking pissed and explains that he tried to order a beer, with his real ID that clearly states he is over 21, but the waitress took one look at it and said “This is fake.” He proceeded to show her his school ID and a credit card to prove his age and identity but she refused to accept any of these as valid forms of ID. As he is telling us the story we respond by saying “Wow that’s so dumb” just as the waitress, who happens to be the same girl who rejected his ID is approaching our table. She whips out her little order-taking notebook and says in the most passive-aggressive way you could imagine “Yeah I’m so dumb for following the rules. What do you guys want?”. We could not believe this kind of behavior from a waitress and as receiving customers we were shocked. We awkwardly ordered and when she’s done writing it all down she says that she needs a credit card to hold the order? Okay lady. I’ve been to hundreds, probably thousands, of restaurants in my life and I have NEVER had anyone say that they needed a credit card to hold our order. It was ridiculous and it was clearly because she didn’t trust us and thought we would do something sketchy, which I find to be slightly offensive seeing as we had done nothing wrong. After she walked away and we had time to process everything that had just happened we all decided that we were way too pissed to eat there so we bailed from our table and told the waitress that we had changed our mind. The unfortunate result was that none of the other restaurant options had very good food (except for the ice cream we had for dessert) so we ended up eating mediocre food that we weren’t all that thrilled about while still fuming from the previous events. The whole venue was overcrowded and underwhelming and we all agreed that we were never coming back unless the world was ending and it was the only food option that was left. We turned the night around though by cruising over to Downtown Disney, which we were right next to, and watching the Disneyland fireworks show. Lesson learned here: Artsy food comes with a price.
Expectation
vs.
Reality
So the bucket list didn’t work out so well but it’s okay because we still had one heck of a summer. Ironically, it seems we had the most fun doing our normal, non bucket list things. While our bucket list adventures seemed to disappoint and underwhelm, our spontaneous adventures proved to be more fun than we expected. Bucket lists are a great idea but beware that they don’t always go as planned and sometimes those super “cool” places aren’t all that great in real life. After having these experiences, I definitely learned to appreciate the great restaurants and things to do here in my own neighborhood.
