Julie's California Blog - Day 4, April 3, 2013
Happy Wednesday everyone! Today's adventure in California was a biking expedition from Hermosa Beach to Venice Beach. It's 13 miles of boardwalk mostly along the beautiful Pacific shoreline. Except for a short, hair raising stretch on a busy street in Marina del Rey, the ride was incredible. This photo shows Carolyn riding behind me in the distance. It's hard to ride while trying to photograph.
The ride gave me an opportunity to check out the beach communities and do a little recon for future visits to California. It seems that Hermosa Beach gets a little nicer north of The Pier. (My condo, unfortunately, is south of The Pier.) The further up the coastline we rode, the neighborhoods seemed even nicer. Good to know.
We arrived in Venice Beach around 12:30 and wandered around for a while. WOW! What an amazing collection of eclectic people. I guess that's a nice way of saying there sure were some "raggedy ass" people wandering the streets of Venice. All shapes and sizes. One guy, riding a bike was wearing green hi-top tennis shoes, with crazy printed shorts, had his long gray hair pulled into a pony tail down his back and had a cardboard wine box tied to the back of his bike with bungie cords to carry his treasures. Venice Beach is certainly a great place for interesting people watching.
I found a little mischief along the way. Seems almost every other shop in Venice is a Marijuana store. I met some really fun guys who didn't mind taking a photograph with me. I promise, I held my breath the entire time!!Just a side note here. Spring semester, my son, Jeff pledged a fraternity at USC. He joined Alpha Epsilon Pi, which is the jewish fraternity on campus. He really likes the brothers in the fraternity and is thrilled with his decision. He's not sure if they know he's not jewish, so just in case anyone inquires, he's instructed me to tell them I'm jewish. Keeping that in mind, I practiced my "jewish mother" skills on the rental agent today. I asked her if she knew of an agency that rented more "up scale" properties on the beach. I continued to whine about the condition of my rental explaining that I had to go to Target to buy area rugs to put on the carpet because they were too dirty to walk on and I had to buy a coffee maker, because mine was just nasty, etc. To my surprise ... IT WORKED!! I got a call from the agent while Carolyn and I were riding to Venice Beach. She had a nicer condo for me to check out but guests were scheduled to arrive at 2:30 and we'd need to view it before they arrived. So after a fabulous lunch at restaurant in Venice called "James Beach," we called a cab that loaded up two broads and their bikes for a quick trip back to Hermosa.
The new place is right next door to my current condo, but it is MUCH nicer. Sort of like comparing the Holiday Inn Express (again) to the Ritz Carlton. I'LL TAKE IT!! Only catch is, it's rented until Saturday. So, Saturday afternoon I'll be ... "movin on up!" Poor Carolyn has endured our shabby condo for 4 days. She's instructed me to tell future guests they need to thank her for suggesting I call the agency. So a big shout out to Carolyn!! Thank you.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon sitting on our beautiful, vast balcony, next to the rusted gas grill, watching the volleyball games, listening to waves crashing on the beach. The champagne was cold and the volleyball players improved. The guys were out today. Oh happy day!
The new place is right next door to my current condo, but it is MUCH nicer. Sort of like comparing the Holiday Inn Express (again) to the Ritz Carlton. I'LL TAKE IT!! Only catch is, it's rented until Saturday. So, Saturday afternoon I'll be ... "movin on up!" Poor Carolyn has endured our shabby condo for 4 days. She's instructed me to tell future guests they need to thank her for suggesting I call the agency. So a big shout out to Carolyn!! Thank you.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon sitting on our beautiful, vast balcony, next to the rusted gas grill, watching the volleyball games, listening to waves crashing on the beach. The champagne was cold and the volleyball players improved. The guys were out today. Oh happy day!
Just kidding about the "vast" balcony. The balcony is the depth of the gas grill or Scruffy ... IF his tail is curled up. There's actually more leg room in a US Airways coach seat. But in a mere 64 hours, I'll be movin next door. Yay!!!
Carolyn and I had a lovely dinner in Santa Monica at "Ivy at The Shore." Carolyn told me that Santa Monica was more our style and I need to look for a place there next time.
While walking the dogs after our Pinkberry fix, (yes .... again!) I mentioned to Carolyn, as we were shivering on the boardwalk, that I am considering going someplace warmer for the weekend and Carolyn said, "You mean like Cabo?" Carolyn, thanks for making me laugh. You are such a dear friend. I'll only survive with good friends like you! Thank you so much for making this week so special. Safe travels back to Jackson, Mississippi. I miss you already.
While walking the dogs after our Pinkberry fix, (yes .... again!) I mentioned to Carolyn, as we were shivering on the boardwalk, that I am considering going someplace warmer for the weekend and Carolyn said, "You mean like Cabo?" Carolyn, thanks for making me laugh. You are such a dear friend. I'll only survive with good friends like you! Thank you so much for making this week so special. Safe travels back to Jackson, Mississippi. I miss you already.
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