Santa Monica - Day Twelve

We left the Long Beach CA area for a short drive to Santa Monica.  Unfortunately, it was rush hour and the 25 minute drive took close to two hours.  The freeways around LA are busy with fast moving, fast stopping traffic.  We were glad to get to the beach at Santa Monica.  We parked next to the Shutters Hotel and right next to the bike path which runs along the beach.  We rode as far as we could in both directions and covered close to 18 miles.  We saw many different sights along the way including:  beach volleyball players, surfers, roller bladders, dog walkers, bikini clad women and the Santa Monica Pier amusement park.

Ellen was in search of the movie actor Matthew McConaughey thinking they might be Matthew that I simply lost count. 

The bike path route included the Venice Beach area which is quite the spectacle onto itself.  It has been described as a freak show, but there just are not enough adjectives to describe this subculture of hippies, street people and everything in between.  There is an area about one mile long where street vendors are selling their items.  You could buy everything from botox on the beach to tattoos to body piercings to medical marijuana.  There were many handmade crafts for sale by very unusual people.  We loved it!  It is a one of a kind experience.

We had lunch at Shutters Hotel and sat at the same table we were served at two years ago during our previous trip.  The food was excellent and the view of the beach made it very special.

We left for San Luis Obispo with stops on Oceano Dunes at Grover Beach.  This is the only beach in California on which you can drive your car.  We stopped at Pismo Beach and watched the surfers from the pier before having dinner.  We continue onto San Luis Obispo and found our hotel for the night.

Tomorrow we are going to explore the area before continuing on to Monterey Bay.

Pictures can be seen at:


More later . .