Santa Monica is beautiful. It's a beach town in Los Angeles that has a walkway along the beach for miles and miles. We rented roller blades and after a very shaky start (and a family being knocked down like bowling skittles) we were on our way. We skated down to Venice beach which is a hive of activity with basketball, skate boarders, handball etc going on. We skated back and admired the athleticism of those working out at muscle beach. After watching, sorry drooling at the bodies only craved by gods, we had a stroll around 3rd street promenade for the afternoon.
The next day we continued our journey onto San Diego, driving in the sunshine once again. The drive brought us through various beach towns each as pretty as the next. We stopped for lunch in the lively Huntington Beach. The place was buzzing with buskers, bars and beach activities. We drove to Laguna Beach just in time for sunset and the realisation we had nowhere booked to stay yet. We decided to keep driving to San Diego and stay there. We managed to get a last minute motel booking just as the battery died on my phone, and with Sues already dead, we were cut off from the internet with no directions and just a motel name. We eventually spotted the motel name on the opposite side of the road just as we were brought back onto the freeway in the wrong direction. Several U turns later we arrived at our destination. We were greeted to a cute cottage style room with two double beds, a squashed geicko, several bugs and a bathroom with someone else's hair. We decided to sleep in the same bed with our pyjamas tucked into our socks, no skin for our new bug friends. Check out was at 11am, we were gone by 8am!
We stayed the rest of our time in the Pacific Beach area, or PB if you're in with the gang, and in a clean and comfortable apartment. A few days relaxing on the beach, socialising with surfers, meeting local people, tasting fish tacos, all helped us get over the memory of our first night in San Diego.
A highlight of that week was our trip back up to LA to see the LA Lakers opening game of the season. I've said it before and I'll say it again the Americans know how to put on a show! The game consisted of hours of entertainment, cheerleaders, music, fan games,free t shirts, food, and some basketball of course.
At the end of the week, with heavy hearts, it was time to return our convertible car and bid farewell to sunny Southern California. The adventure continues on the sunny (hopefully!) east coast of America.
The next day we continued our journey onto San Diego, driving in the sunshine once again. The drive brought us through various beach towns each as pretty as the next. We stopped for lunch in the lively Huntington Beach. The place was buzzing with buskers, bars and beach activities. We drove to Laguna Beach just in time for sunset and the realisation we had nowhere booked to stay yet. We decided to keep driving to San Diego and stay there. We managed to get a last minute motel booking just as the battery died on my phone, and with Sues already dead, we were cut off from the internet with no directions and just a motel name. We eventually spotted the motel name on the opposite side of the road just as we were brought back onto the freeway in the wrong direction. Several U turns later we arrived at our destination. We were greeted to a cute cottage style room with two double beds, a squashed geicko, several bugs and a bathroom with someone else's hair. We decided to sleep in the same bed with our pyjamas tucked into our socks, no skin for our new bug friends. Check out was at 11am, we were gone by 8am!
We stayed the rest of our time in the Pacific Beach area, or PB if you're in with the gang, and in a clean and comfortable apartment. A few days relaxing on the beach, socialising with surfers, meeting local people, tasting fish tacos, all helped us get over the memory of our first night in San Diego.
A highlight of that week was our trip back up to LA to see the LA Lakers opening game of the season. I've said it before and I'll say it again the Americans know how to put on a show! The game consisted of hours of entertainment, cheerleaders, music, fan games,free t shirts, food, and some basketball of course.
At the end of the week, with heavy hearts, it was time to return our convertible car and bid farewell to sunny Southern California. The adventure continues on the sunny (hopefully!) east coast of America.
