August long weekend saw us heading out to explore Southern Alberta. We had a fantastic four day jaunt through the weird and wonderful in the open prairies. Everything from Star Trek to the 'Worlds Tallest Teepee', dinosaurs to glacial erratics, beautiful parks and open spaces. It really was a great circuit. You can see a selection from the trip below or you can click here to see the full write up and images.
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I've written up our entire trip to Santa Monica on one page as usual so we can relive it all in one in our later years. There are more images there than are posted on the blog and brief text outlines of our week in california. You can click here to go directly to the Sunny Santa Monica page or find a permanent link on our main Canada page by clicking here or using the tabs above.
Our final day in California seems to have come around fast. But with the storms of yesterday cleared away and sunshine warming the sand, there was only one place we were going to be today.
We set out to the bike rental again and made the trip north by bike to Will Rogers State Beach, where we sat and took in the beauty of the pacific coast once more. After sunning ourselves a while we rode back part way to the beach at inspiration point and stopped again for a little while. We continued on under the pier at Santa Monica and down to our favourite watering hole for coffee and cake before taking the bikes down to Venice Beach and returning them to the bike rack. We then went to the skate park and saw some incredible skaters today before paddling the shoreline 3 miles back to Santa Monica. We had a last walk out on the Pier and lunch in downtown Santa Monica before returning to the hotel to pack (we booked the room until tomorrow so we could have a shower etc before flying home). Suddenly it's all over and we have to head back to Canada, hopefully there will be some signs of springtime when we get home. No post for yesterday in sunny California as we took the bus to Beverly Hills and walked Rodeo Drive and the golden triangle shopping. When we returned to Santa Monica we shopped locally too so the camera stayed in the hotel safe for the day.
Today we were out in good time, getting back on rental bikes and heading north for 3 miles to Will Rodgers State Park. It was a lovely ride with beachside flowers and miles of freshly sieved, clean and empty beaches. At the park we stopped for a break and saw a whale quite close to the shore, then as we rode back toward Santa Monica we saw another, this time a huge humpback right in at the breakers, it was incredible. I didn't get photos as I had the wide angle lens with me but I did make a short phone video of the memory. We rode back under Santa Monica Pier and continued on to Venice stopping at our 'regular' cafe. At Venice Beach we left the bikes and sat watching the skaters do their thing before walking out to the sea and paddling our way the 3 miles back to Santa Monica. I found a shiny new iphone in the shallow water and after rinsing the sand off it I was surprised to see it still working perfectly, we dropped it off at the lifeguard station impressed with it's water resistant capabilities. Cloudy skies took over later in the day bringing the threat of some serious rainfall starting tomorrow lunchtime and going until thursday evening so it might be movie day for us on thursday, we don't really care, we're having a great time. With the LA marathon taking place today we thought we would get up and out early and avoid the crowds. We walked to Santa Monica pier and then 3 miles along the pathway to Venice Beach. Along the way we stopped at the local skate park and had a skype call with Mark, Hayley and Ethan to share the skills of the locals with a global audience.
We found a bike rental rack at Venice so rented a pair of bikes and rode the cycleway back to Santa Monica. We stopped here and there for pictures and coffee before returning the bikes about halfway between the two locations. After walking a little way a cycle taxi came by so we hopped a ride back to Santa Monica. We got our fill of beach sunshine before walking into town to see some of the marathoners finishing, from there we returned to the hotel to freshen up. Later we went into Santa Monica shopping and had a full afternoon doing just that before settling in for a room service dinner back at the hotel. Sarah and I decided to have a week in California to escape the Canadian winter for a few days. We booked a hotel in Santa Monica just a stroll from the beach, and arrived safely this morning via LAX.
The hotel let us have the suite on arrival at 11am so we could get our bags unpacked and sorted and get out in the sunshine. We spent time on the beach and on Santa Monica Pier before returning to the hotel for an hour or so when the 4am start caught up with us. We walked back to the beach for sunset and to make a few night shots of the pier before heading back to the hotel for the evening. Tomorrow is the LA Marathon which ends at Santa Monica so no doubt we'll be watching some of that, as well as taking the beach path to Venice Beach and perhaps a little shopping, it's nice to feel the California sunshine again. |
AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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