Skip to main content

Destination of the week - Santa Monica, California!

As I look out the window at this dull cold (will Spring ever get here?) Sunday morning my thoughts can't help but turn to warm sunny holidays.  One of my favourite places without a doubt is Southern California.  Would I want to live there?  No thanks but it is sure fun to visit.  This week I will highlight one of my favourite places to stay. 

I stayed in Santa Monica at the end of a couple of weeks in California in the fall of 2007.   The HI-Santa Monica was fantastic.  Clean and had everything I wanted AND two blocks from the beach!  I would stay there again in a heartbeat.

One of the highlights?  Heading over to Jinky's Cafe for breakfast the first morning and while enjoying my delicious pumpkin pancakes who walks in but Ron Howard!!!  Okay George Clooney would have been WAY more exciting but I will take whatever Hollywood star I can get.  I was certain it was him and a quick internet search back at the hotel confirmed it.  And my stay there just got better and better!!!  At the end of my stay I took the blue bus off to LAX and back home.

Santa Monica...I really really like you and I'll be back!!!  Enjoy my time in Santa Monica through, as always, through my pictures....

Santa Monica Pier


On the pier

Some "cool" California kids
 
Multi-purpose trail between Santa Monica and Venice Beach

Venice Beach - you see everything here!!!

Another view of Venice Beach



Another killer California sunset




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Peeing on fish or a fish out of water

Well this morning we headed off by boat to Siem Reap.  Due to the low water on the Tonie Sap Lake (more like a river until near the end of the trip when it widened considerably) the trip would be an 8 hour one... It was supposed to be boring but ended up as anything but...in no certain order...let's see.... We had a rest stop (turned out to be the only one) along the way and the loo was just a hole over the lake and there were fish circling around underneath.  Yes it was just a hole in the floor...you definitely had someone watch your stuff while you went in or one false move and your camera/purse or whatever would be in the lake.  The fish either like the warm pee coming in or they are pervs and like to see ladies parts.  We were just a few minutes out when all of a sudden there was something flying over me and jumping all over the floor - a little fish!  Guess he wanted to join the tour.  Roger reached down and scooped him up while I hooted and hollered.  Okay it wasn&#

A walk along the coffin trail (and a couple of lakes) in the Lake District

While in the Lake District I wanted to do some light walking but not heavy duty hiking where I could easily get lost and my body not found for days partially eaten by hungry...sheep?  Anyway, you get the drift...not too grueling and safe for a solo walker.  I get a bit nervous when I am too far from civilization. There are lots of books about walking in the Lake District but they seem to be all about walking the fells in remote places...neither Thelma nor I fancied that.  While browsing in the post office/shop in Ambleside one day (if you are ever in Ambleside you must go there - a treasure!) I found a stand of walk descriptions on post cards.  And there I found my walk.  After all who could resist a stroll on the "coffin trail" in William Wordsworth country... I took a look and thought hmm...cafe along the route...that works for me. (with at least the security of knowing there was an available "loo" along the way.)  Okay, I may not have totally followed the

The highlights of my Fall 2023 trip

I'm back home after a great six weeks away. This was a "short" trip for me.  So here we go with an overview of my trip.   London London for me is always a good idea.  I fell in love with it back in the mid 70's and it's been calling me back ever since. Some of the best things in my life have happened in London.  When I learned my two Oz friends Loraine and Linda were going to be in London in the fall I knew I had to be there.  And what fun we had!!  Of course, I did loads of other things as well.  I spent two weeks there from mid September until very early October and then back again for four nights at the end of October before flying home.   After over five years (delayed for two and a half years thanks to Covid) of walking, I finally finished the 126 km Capital Ring.  The picture above is taken at the end of my walk and where I started in May of 2018 at the main door of Streatham Common station just steps from my B and B.  What a walk!  I got to see so much more