Advertisement
Published: April 3rd 2006
Venice Beach
We couldn't go to LA without stopping off at Venice...luckily the sun came out for usWaking in the hostel we found we'd left it too late to book another night, and being all excited about our new shiny car, a very new Corolla LE....pretty roomy for a 'compact' car and with all the bells and whistles, we can't decide whether we like cruise control or not...and the car has its own ideas about when our headlights should be on so we've given up fighting it. A 1.8l engine so perhaps not as economical as we'd like but certainly very comfortable to drive. Anyway that aside, we decided it was time to put her through her paces.
LA had finally turned on a bit of sun for us, and we decided to take our chance and head up the coast a little way, visiting some beaches and staying the night in Santa Barbara. It was a beautiful afternoon, fairly chilly still but lovely sunshine and blue skies.
As we were getting ready to leave Orbit we came across two girls from Sweden who were also heading this way, so they hopped into our car too and away we went. We visited Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier, although we did not succumb to the call
Ju's future property site (one among many)
Wow we learned the true meaning of beach front property at Venice beach! of the roller coaster proudly flying the Stars and Stripes in the fun park on the pier.
We had a bit of fun on the highways - the roads here are incredibly bad! Honestly, people write to the councils and newspapers in New Zealand if there is just a patch with a pothole - here the entire road is bumpy and unevenly sealed, almost fooling us into thinking we had flat tyres on occasion. And this is on a major freeway!
Arriving in Santa Monica we were impressed by how pretty the town was. For the kiwis reading, take Parnell, stir in a little Mission Bay and add some palm trees. The hostel was comfortable and pretty clean...the only backpackers in Santa Monica. They were running a classic movie night but we decided to head out and explore a little (by this time we were starving for dinner!).
Our German roommate Anya joined us and we walked down the main strip to eye up some restaurants, and ended up at a sports bar called Sharkeez (wince). Despite the name, the food was great and relatively inexpensive - Ju was thoroughly approving of her $5 Mai Tai, classily
served in a plastic cup with a wedge of pineapple and a cocktail umbrella, which perfectly complemented the Chicken Burger and Fries - and if the whole wall of televisions surrounding you didn't give you an epileptic fit the ambience was pretty fun and lively. Lots of young locals hanging out here, and a divinely gorgeous alligator skin looming threateningly overhead.
Having filled a gap we went back to the hostel and found our Swedish friends and a couple of pommie blokes from Leeds (Ben and Richard) keen to have a night out...what's with these backpacker types, they're insane! Just don't know when to stay in with a good book and a hot cocoa! However the peer pressure was too great, and we had a couple of drinks at the hostel and made our way out to check out the Santa Barbara nightlife, which was surprisingly active for a Wednesday. Fortunately we managed to pull ourselves out of bed in time to check out in the morning, but it was a struggle!
On waking we planned to head back to LA from where the plan wasp to hit Disneyland! Who were we to pass up such an opportunity?
California Flags
The Bear Flag Republic So sadly our time to explore Santa Barbara was all too brief...would love to have stuck around to go whale watching and rent some bikes and cycle along the waterfront. However we managed a stop on the cliffs overlooking the sparkling sea, and were quickly overrun by cliff dwelling sea squirrels and thought perhaps we hadn't had quite enough sleep (or maybe that was just Jenny). They were charming cliff dwelling sea squirrels however, and we don't blame them for making their homes in a spot with such a fantastic view, including a group of weather hardened surfers doing their best with icy water and tiny waves. We may retire here one day. Everyone else seems to!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.183s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0934s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Sarah R
non-member comment
Hi there
Hi guys, especially Ju. I am loving your blog and am thoughly enjoying following your travels and look forward to hearing more as you go on. Hope you had fun at Disneyland... I have memories as a 13 year old there and had a great time, the stand out memory being going with my 75 year old grandfather on the Magic Mountain Roller Coster hehe... Travel Safe xx