Sunday, November 28, 2004

cK & Shelley L.A. Tour - Part 3

cK and Shelley hit Santa Monica and Venice Beach..

It was another chilly, but sunny day. Shelley had come all this way, and has not yet seen the majestic Pacific Ocean. Its one thing to live on the east coast your entire life, and think how endless the Atlantic Ocean is.... but to see the Pacific with the huge mountains in the background is something totally different.

I remember the first time I saw the Pacific when I moved here, its not really that big of a deal, but to me it was. To say that I have travelled a long way, across the entire country, from one coast to the other and I made it here. I accomplished that.

So Shelley and I take the bus to Santa Monica. We get out and walk to the Santa Monica Pier. While walking down towards the wooden planks, we stop and take pictures of the mountains of malibu touching the coast. You don't see things like that from where we are from!

We get onto the Pier and the place was filled with people. Despite the bitter chills of the wind and low temperatures, people still come out to the pier for some entertainment. The Pacific Park with its mini golf and rollercoasters were tempting to me, but Shelley had to experience the water. We walked down to the sands. Shelley was wearing her comfortable K-SWISS shoes and changed into her flip-flops so she wouldn't get sand in her shoes.

I was wearing regular sneakers. I wasn't going to walk right into the water so it didn't bother me when I walked on the sand. We both walked pretty close to the water. Shelley walked into it and commented on how it wasn't really cold. I wasn't going to find out for myself. I'll just take her word for it. We took some pictures to capture the moment. I made sure that I got distinctive objects in the background that identified this beach as being California and not like say, Miami.

We walked along the sands going south towards Venice Beach. We surfaced from the sands to the paved walkway for pedestrians. Shelley found a foot shower to clean her flip-flops and feet from the sand. After she did that, we continued on. It wasn't long before the sun began to set and then hide in the horizon. I stopped Shelley and told her to look. I'm not sure people stop to appreciate these little things anymore, but I do every chance I get. Its not everyday (as an east coasterner) can say that they saw that sun set on the Pacific Ocean.

Shelley and I made it into Venice Beach where all the street vendors were closing up. We were hungry and wanted to find a snack. We happened to find this one little hidden cafe that was closing and took us as their last customers. We ordered the burger special and substituted the soft drinks for 2 hot chocolates. When we got that food, it was soooooooo good. I mean, really. Down to the lettuce, it was very fresh and crisp.

From there, we headed back looking for a bus route to take us home. It took some time walking in the cold wind of Venice Beaches side streets....but we did eventually find a bus going to where we were headed.

The night (for me) ended when we got back to my place. I chilled out and watched movies with my roomate, Alex. I wasn't going back out ---I was exhausted and it was COLD! Shelley went out with my roomate, Dan for a drive down to the Sunset Strip.

Santa Monica Beach	More Beach	cK and Shelley
Santa Monica Pier	Pacific Coast	Pacific Park
cK in front of Pacific Park	cK / Shelley on Fishing Pier	People Feeding Birds
Shelley on Beach	Pacific Sunset	Venice Cafe