My buddy Mike was visiting from New Jersey the last couple days, and we really had no plan or agenda for what to do on Saturday (except that he wanted a breakfast burrito from the local pub, OB's, which I was happy to oblige.) I decided to take him down to what has become my happy place over the last year: Huntington Dog Beach. As much as I've never been a fan of Orange County, it has become on of my favorite places to get away from the world. Mike hadn't realized from my descriptions that it was a long stretch of beach where dogs could run free off leash; he was expecting a fenced off dog park on the sand - not the case. From little chihuahuas to massive samoyeds, the dogs pretty much all get along as they run and play freely with each other. As one of the owners told us, 'the people whose dogs doesn't get along in this kind of environment usually just don't come back.' We chatted with a few of the owners, met (and, of course, pet) a few dogs including an 8-week-old border collie on his first trip to the beach, and for a few hours were able to forget how ugly the world has become.