We recently started following @corgowaffles on Instagram, and if we’d known about them sooner we would have definitely planned on meeting them during our New Year’s SoCal trip – so we were glad they invited us to meet them on their recent visit to the Bay Area. This was the day after our Point Isabel meetup, and was a much smaller crew.
Her parents arranged a meetup at Walter Haas Dog Park, it was our first time visiting that park. All of our favorite Corgs were there; @leela_thespacecorg, @bmocorgi, @izzyloaf, @cobiethecorgi, @kubo.thecorgi, and @calypsothecorgi. Waffles was super high energy, and there was definitely quite a bit of herding going on at the park…not sure if the regulars at that park were prepared for a Corg takeover of their neighborhood park.
As we crack into the new year, we decided our East Bay friends would want to join us at Point Isabel dog park. If you haven’t been to Point Isabel, you’re definitely missing out. Think of the largest fenced in dog park one could ever want…right on the bay; the only drawback is parking, which on the day of our meetup was challenging.
Seems like everyone else had the same idea of going to Point Isabel that day, for some of our members it took them almost 20 minutes to find a parking spot! Nonetheless, for those that showed up, it was a fun time indeed…good weather (considering it had rained the night before) and a really good turnout, including many first timers.
We’re looking forward to seeing even more first timers as we go into the new year, and growing our membership even more! If you haven’t been to one of our meetups yet, what are you waiting for? Our next meetup is on Saturday, February 8th at 3:00pm at Fort Funston, RSVP on our Meetup group.
This year we opted to spend New Years Eve in sunny SoCal. We split the time spent between Huntington Beach and West LA. We didn’t really come across too many dog friendly places in West LA, so most of my reviews will be for places we visited in Huntington Beach…which is in our opinion one of the most dog friendly cities we’ve ever visited.
Kimptons have long been on our favorite places to stay purely because of their ‘open dog policy.’ While many of the mainstream hotels have become far more pet friendly, the Kimpton at Huntington Beach is probably the most dog friendly hotel we’ve ever stayed at.
Wine Social Hour (with the pups). All Kimptons host a complimentary wine and beer happy hour from 5-6…but at the Shorebreak everyone brings the puppers out to join in the socializing…it has to be the best thing ever!
Dog Biscuit Ornaments. Even their Christmas tree was decorated with gilded dog biscuits…quite the nice touch, apparently I’m not the only guest to praise the Shorebreak for their pro canine stance.
Christmas tree with dog biscuit ornaments and Lia @corgi.lia
The televisions in each room are also equipped with their own Chromecasts. I’ve been wishing for that in hotel rooms for a long time now, and this is the first property we’ve stayed at that have offered this.
Our stay however wasn’t without glitches, the room we stayed had Internet and TV signal issues. The hotel staff was incredibly attentive in trying to resolve the issue…after a few visits I ended up being moved to a different room, minor inconvenience…fortunately I pack light. Plus the hotel offered a couple drink coupons to make up for it.
Huntington Beach Dog Beach ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Great beach for the doggos. Now keep in mind that Huntington Beach proper (next to the pier) does not allow dogs on the beach; ony on the bike path, but not on the actual beach.
Head about a mile and a half up and once you reach the Golden West intersection…it’s all dog beach as far as you could or want to walk. There is metered parking along the roadside, or free street parking in the residential area inland across the street.
On our last morning after the beach, we made a visit to Dirty Dog Wash to give Lia a bath. The staff there was so friendly, a very young bunch including the owner. I was given instructions on all of the cleaning products that were available for use, and we even finished off using the blow dryer (Which Lia absolutely hates)! It’s also super close to the Kimpton, within walking distance.
Lia @corgi.lia not loving the blow dryer (never has)
Convenient in that it was located across the street from the Kimpton. I was able to walk in with Lia, place my order then sat outside to eat. I ordered the Original fried chicken and waffle sandwich. It was ok, not bad, not great for what you pay. The chicken breast was thin sliced (you can get a more substantial chicken breast in a Popeyes sandwich than this…for about half the price).
Very dog friendly, easy to walk in with Lia then sit outside. It was way too crowded outside so we got our order to go. Had the surf and turf burrito with a half order of chips. Could have done without the chips (don’t think they were corn…but flour based) and the burrito was average, not very memorable unfortunately.
Either this was the most dog friendly place, or the staff that worked there didn’t really care. We walked in, ordered and were able to sit inside while we ate our food. There weren’t many other patrons in the restaurant, and those who were in there didn’t seem to mind. Now as for the food, I’ve done the grocery store Poke, the Japanese restaurant Poke…and North Shore is more of a casual dining Poke restaurant. I ordered the Waimea with half tuna and salmon, but considering this was supposed to be a spicy mayo base…it really lacked the flavor I was really craving.
On to LA
That about concludes our Huntington Beach reviews. Head up to West LA, and we stayed at a friend’s place in Santa Monica. We met so many new Corgs that we follow on Instagram while we were in LA, and here are the reviews of where we met.
Century City Westfield ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This mall is super dog friendly, although on the day we decided to head here it was so packed and parking was a nightmare. We finally found a spot to park, and fortunately it was close to where we were supposed to meet Sneakers @sneakersthecorgi. If you’re looking for a place to walk with the puppers, this is a great option…although depending on the store, you may not be able to bring them inside (like restaurants etc.)
We met Thunder and Kenzie @thunderboltcorgi at the Mar Vista Rec Center. Not sure if this is an official dog permitted area, but didn’t see any signs indicating that they weren’t. We also saw several other dogs join us while we were there. Lots of open grassy area and Lia had a blast running around with Thunder and Kenzie.
Can’t really leave a review since didn’t really have any coffee here. This was just a spot to meet Geordi @lacorgi after which we headed over to a nearby field to have the corgs run around and of course pose for some pictures.
This was our third year doing the Lands End hike with the Corgs.
Lands End 2019
This is probably one of my favorite meetups of the year. It’s the only time that we go to Lands End and it’s a pretty easy hike for all experience levels – also the views of the Golden Gate Bridge are also fantastic.
We were also fortunate that the rain held off till Sunday, so we had a pretty good turnout.
Thank you to everyone that showed up for this years hike. Happy holidays, and I look forward to seeing you at our next meetup at Point Isabel on Saturday, January 11th at 11am – be sure to RSVP to secure your spot!
Yes, we’ll be marching in the Pride parade at SF Pride once again this year, our third time marching and hope to have our biggest contingent ever. Healthy Spot is our official sponsor this year, and will be helping drive attendance. They will also be providing free t-shirts for all participants.
Was it just me, or did it seem like there were more Corgs than usual at today’s Meetup?! Maybe it was the nice weather, or the fact that we were at Crissy Field – one of the more scenic San Francisco venues.
Lia @tuckrules and Swayze @swayzebear will be making a trip to Portland during the first weekend in April – and we know everyone ❤️’s a Corgi in Portland too!
We’re planning a meetup at Normandale Park at 2pm to meet the PDX @portlandcorgi Corgs! Hope you can make it .
