Monarch Beach & Ohana Festival

Last full day in the US! Pretty relaxing day overall. In the morning, I checked into my final hotel of this extensive trip - the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria in Monarch Beach. For this weekend, the rate for one night was over $1,500, which I could never afford, so I was happy to use Hilton points to pay for the short one-night stay. It's always fun to pretend to be rich for a short while!

I had lunch at an upscale private beach club, only available for people staying at the resort. It's located right by the beach with a great view of the ocean, and the food was really good.

After lunch, I relaxed at the hotel for a bit and then walked to Dana Point, a lovely area right by the ocean as well.

Ultimately, my destination was Doheny State Beach, the site of a 3-day music festival called Ohana. I only had a ticket for Sunday, the last day of the festival, to see Foo Fighters, one of my fav bands. The Sunday quickly sold out, and it was indeed packed with many other fans waiting to see Foo Fighters, although several other bands also played today.

The festival is right on the beach by the ocean, so it is quite a location for a concert, with palm trees and everything.

Before the Foo Fighters went on, I saw The Pretenders - founded by the legendary Chrissie Hynde about 45 years ago! Her performance was really impressive, and the band was great, even though I am not super familiar with their songs.

The Foo Fighters also played an incredible show, with many of their best songs in the setlist, and their new drummer did a stellar job. It was a really good show, finishing with my favorite song Everlong - one of the best songs ever, if you ask me!

Now, one more sleep before the long trip home, back to reality!Read more