My Little Cottage for a Month

Photo of rental cottage in January 2008 on my shelf of memories

Well as luck would have it, after a massive search for the pictures I took of the cottage on Balboa Island in January of 2008, they no longer exist except for this lone one I had printed out and framed. I think they were with the lost ones on my laptop. I had a HD crash last year and sadly never copied the few photos I had there.

But I thought I would check the Vacation Rentals By Owner site, which is where I found the cottage rental in the first place and sure enough the owners still have it listed. It's a wonderful little spot, quiet and located on the Grand Canal of Balboa Island, it is an easy walk of a couple of blocks to the island's main street and all the shops, restaurants and coffee places. I took the place for the month of January in 2008 in celebration of my 70th birthday - a birthday gift to me. I wish I could have stayed forever.

Located in Newport Beach, CA

Sunrise over the Grand Canal at low tide

Front of the cottage

Little Cottage on the Grand Canal

View of Grand Canal towards Irvine Terrace in Corona del Mar

Sunny Living Room

With Fireplace

Bright and useful Kitchen

Dining Area in Kitchen

Comfy Master Bedroom

Second Bedroom and Small additional sleep area

And of course extra amenities

I think probably this little cottage was built in the 1930's or early 1940's. The current owners did a wonderful job of renovation, making it up to date but still retaining the cottage charm. In the back of the cottage over the parking area they added another separate Owner's Unit which is nice, but I prefer the cottage charm.

As a kid growing up just a couple of miles from here, I spent a lot of summers on this little island eating frozen bananas and Balboa bars and across the bay at the Fun Zone on the Balboa peninsula. In my adult years I always wanted to rent a place here for the winter, it was such a wonderful and quiet place in the winter when all the summer tourists and vacationers had gone home. I never was able to do that, but I promised myself as a special treat I would spend my seventieth birthday there and I did. But really, can you believe I would be so stupid as not to have saved all those photos I took!!!