2013 OCR Outdoors Archive Stories

On sunny days when the beach is beckoning, I find that my normal gym workouts can start to feel a little dry.In Orange County, activities like cycling and yoga, traditionally done only on solid ground, are making their way to the water. Not only are the workou

Joey Kleinhans took a circuitous path to the wine industry. A native of Göttingen, Germany, Kleinhans came to the U.S. about 10 years ago and made a comfortable living in the financial industry in O.C. Though he did well, his heart was elsewhere. "I have had a passion for wine for many years," said Kleinhans, 35. A few years

A spinoff taco bistro by the founders of Sol Cocina is launching later this year with a menu inspired by the streetside antojitos, or snacks, of Mexico. Solita tacos & margaritas will be a key anchor at a new mixed-use project under construction at Bella Terra mall in Huntington Beach. Unlike Sol's more adventurous menu, Solita will

A national sweepstakes contest in a big, glossy magazine. The prize: a dream wedding, and a honeymoon in the Caymen Islands. The chances of winning? Slimmer than a bridesmaid on a grapefruit diet. But from the moment Briana Hainley stumbled on the ad while thumbing through Brides magazine on a long flight to visit relatives in the Midwes

It was last December when Marion Shurtleff needed a Bible to do an exercise in Bible study class. They were trying to figure out how and why various editions translate scripture so differently. She got up that morning and drove across town to Mathom House Books in San Clemente where she often goes. She was almost out of the door when she

'What happened to the beer-can chicken?" Every time I've dined at Brü Grill & Market over the past couple of months, there has always been at least one person at my table who has dined here before and has jumped at the chance to come back. And in every instance, as soon as we're given menus, these repeat customers ask the same thing

I love the smell of an honest kitchen in the heat of battle, and if you want to know what that smells like, go to The Black Trumpet and sit at the kitchen counter. The kitchen occupies a significant portion of the dining room, or maybe it's the other way around. This little bistro is utterly unpretentious. It feels a bit like an underground dinn

I walked into Jim Peat's classroom a couple of months ago and my eye immediately went to a small, three-piece wood bookshelf put together with dowels, screws and a modest bit of joinery. I know that shelf because the identical one I made in 9th grade sits on my desk in the newsroom. The bookshelf sits in Jim

Balboa and Bahia Corinthian yacht clubs celebrated the start of the boating season Saturday with cannon blasts, bagpipes, boat inspections and pageantry all around."It's a bit like a birthday party," said Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club Commodore Tom Madden. "You have that excitement and anticipation one time a year for the start of boating s

The Habit Burger Grill has announced plans to open its first drive-through restaurant in Orange County.The 80-seat burger restaurant and drive-through is expected to open in Irvine in late July or August. It is taking over a former Burger King on Barranca Parkway, near a recently opened Walmart. The move marks a significant new str

Slater Goodman, 18, first learned about the Boston bombings on April 15 when his dad texted him at school. It was a horrible moment. "Initially I was in shock," he says. "Boston is pretty close to my heart." Slater's dad went to Harvard and his older brother, Spenser, 21, attends now. The brothers knew people who were running in the marat

A few months ago, Cheetah Boy ran away from a party when the cops came. Yes, my 15-year-old son was almost busted. When he came home and told me this, I nearly fainted. Really, I thought he'd be old enough to drive at least before he embarked on a life of crime.Usually I won't let him go to any teen parties unless I call and make sure an

It's hard to define a generation when that generation doesn't want to be defined as a generation. You get a generic label that is highly specific about who is being referenced. Such is the ultimate irony for Americans born between 1965 and 1980, the most commonly accepted parameters for that group called Generation X. Alw

You know you are getting old when an insurance company starts taking a serious look at you. Welcome to middle age, Generation X. Somebody is still trying to define you. "The MetLife Study of Gen X: The MTV Generation Moves into Mid-Life" is a broader look at Generation X than MetLife Mature Market Institute has done in the past.

Paula Huston's mother died of metastatic liver cancer a few months ago at the age of 85. At one point, the elderly woman looked her 61-year-old daughter in the eye and "declared with perfect confidence that some people" – she was talking about Paula – "were going to be mighty surprised when she didn't die as soon as they thought she

Just 10 years ago, the total number of books published in the United States was about 300,000. In 2007, that number crept up to a little more than 410,000. In 2011, with the e-book and self-publishing movement aflame, that number exploded to 3 million. Last year, the number of books published in a single year hit 15 million.A lot of those

Thousands of Boy Scouts, their families and friends descended on Oak Canyon Park near Irvine Lake for the 2013 installment of the Scout-O-Rama, the annual trade show sponsored by the Orange County Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The event offered more than 250 outdoor competitions, exhibits, skits and displays for an adventure-fill

Think what you will about print products, but know that greeting cards and invites aren't going away anytime soon. Now, more than ever, when online greetings and email invitations seem rote, a personal envelope in the mailbox with a real stamp on it can feel more special than ever. "A written card from a friend or family is such

Whenever I pop fish or a boneless chicken breast in the oven, I head out to the garden for a pinch of thyme. Paired with lemon and a pad of butter, it's my favorite way to dress up any kind of entree for a low-cal quickie. What I love about thyme is it's always there. Plant it once, treat it right, and it never goes away. Thyme m

Perhaps you've been pulled into one of those sugar scrub shops. The salespeople entice you inside with a free hand scrub followed by a slab of body butter. Your hands feel wonderful, and the experience is almost irresistible. But sugar scrubs can be pricey. And did you know you probably have the ingredients in your home? Make you

GARDEN GROVE – "I got a few weeks to live," says the voice on the phone. It belongs to Joe Ward, 61, of Garden Grove, who has a ticking time bomb in his brain – an inoperable blood clot. He has one of those before-I-die requests. Ward, it seems, has lived quite a life. "Been everywhere, d

This is a story about turning lemons into lemonade. Wait, that is not even close, and might be somewhat insulting. Well, sort of. It is about a young woman named Sarah Mahoney. She spends her days now in her parents' Laguna Hills home, biding time in a wheelchair. She is very ill. Her doctors, and there has been a small army

Having read Toni Larroux's hilarious obituary (which, by the way, has gone viral since it first appeared online at Legacy.com last week) you might have guessed that it was written by her clever children, Jean and Hayley. But what you likely don't know is that Miss Toni's son is better known as the Rev. Jean Larroux III, senior pastor of

Stuart Millheiser, founder of ALS Guardian Angels, is The Montage Everyday Hero for April. A resident of San Juan Capistrano, Millheiser founded ALS Guardian Angels in 2007 to help patients suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, and their families. Popularly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease for the famous baseball player w

If you've detected a Nordic accent this week at San Clemente's pier, downtown or city offices, or at Mission San Juan Capistrano or Dana Point Harbor, chances are it was from one of five visitors from Finland who are here to share a bit of their culture and learn about ours. Did you know that Teemu Selanne and two other Anaheim Ducks hoc