Good bye Venice, hello road

We said good bye to Venice on Saturday. Penny and I like it there a lot. We checked out of our hotel, walked to the beach to rent bicycles. Yes, I did say bicycles. There is a beautiful paved path all along the beaches from Venice to Will Rogers Park. The weather was perfect for the ride, about 76 degrees and breezy.

We got our bikes, and off we went. I snapped a few photos of the beach walk, it is a very colorful place and I quite enjoyed the people watching, from the vacationers, the locals, the artist and the homeless. It is quite an interesting place.

We rode our bikes to the Santa Monica Blvd., a completely different crowd hanging out there. Lots of kid, several tourist buses, lots of people. There is a circus like feel to this beach.

Further down the path we came to the Pacific Palisades, again this beach is very different, fewer people, quieter. Here there were people doing yoga on the beach, very few tourist kinds of things available. I suddenly realized, that there were dolphins along the shoreline. Penny and I stopped to watch for a little while as the dolphins continued swim in circles then up and down the shoreline. As dolphins usually are it was mesmerizing to stand and watch them. I only wish I could have been closer.

Lastly we reached the Will Rodgers Park area of the shoreline. This beach is used by a lot of the local residents of Los Angeles. There were volleyball games being played and coolers and grills everywhere.

We turned around to go back to Venice, we road for a little over two hours and it was wonderful. I am glad we took the time out to ride.

Once back we walked back to the hotel to get the car, say good bye to our littel friends and head out.

Funny thing about the heading our, we drove about 40 miles going the wrong way. So it took us a long time to get to San Bernadino, but what the heck, we got to see Hermosa Beach, Rodondo Beach, and lots of other stuff we otherwise wouldn't have. The nice thing about having no agenda, or serious time schedules, we don't mind getting lost, it's part of the adventure!

Headin Home
Hazel M. Walker
Queen of the Road........or not

Day 24: What's Red and White and Sore All Over?

So, no kidding...what's red and white and sore all over? Two really STUPID Women Road Warriors. Today was an R&R day, which really means a lot of walking and shopping. Only the added feature this time was the Pacific Ocean. We put on our bathing suites, SPF 60 Waterproof Sunscreen, packed our beach bag and took a walk to the beach! We didn't walk far and found a convenient spot to spread our beach towels and enjoyed the view. Hazel made it clear that she was a "walker" and not a swimmer. She was pretty certain that she wasn't going to get in water deeper than her ankles. So I had to play by myself.

The Flat Boys enjoyed a day out of the car and in the fresh air!

After a refreshing dip in the salt water, it was off to explore the beach walk again. I'm so proud of us, we didn't buy anything except lunch. What a wonderful, exciting place. We walked and talked to people. We walked and looked at some really good, and some really bad art. We walked and stopped for lunch. We walked and walked and walked some more, then decided that we should take our really heavy beach bag back to the hotel and come back to the beach walk to rent bicycles! We had absolutely no idea how far we had walked, and temporarily lost our way back to the room. Once back on track, and becoming aware of just how far we had walked, we made the decision to sit on the beach one last time. We walked some more...on the sand, just to make it a challenge...and found an appropriate place to set out our towels and once again enjoy the view.

It wasn't long before I was in the water again bouncing in the waves. I managed to convince Hazel that she should at least wade in up to her knees. It didn't take long and both of us were way out in the water getting bashed about by the breakers. We had a wonderful time! Time to finish our trek back to the hotel to change and think about some dinner. By the time we drug our wet and sandy bodies into the room, we were pretty ready to get out those bathing suites. Oh...My...God! The fronts of Hazel's legs are scarlet, and the backs are white! My forehead is pretty red and we both look like raccoons! We had been out about 6 hours and only put sunscreen on 1 time. We did have enough presence of mind to wear shirts!

We're sore, burned (only on one side), chafed, and lovin' every minute of it! What a great way to spend the day.

Mikey, put a light in the window 'cause we're starting home tomorrow!

Penny S. Head

End of the Line

We are at the end of the line...and there is still so much we have not seen. The California Route of Route 66 is very nice. It is well used and easy to travel, going from old run down areas to very high end malls and homes. We had the opportunity to go to the BNI International Headquarters and see some of the team there. Ivan Misner, founder was at his place on Big Bear, so I took the opportunity to sit at his desk. VERY NICE! BNI HQ is right off of Route 66 in Upland.

We had a great time driving Baby down Sunset Blvd, through the 90210 zip code, and through Bel Air. We took a few shots but traffic is heavy and we did not stop, most of these were taken from the car. We had a lot of fun, kept the top down and snapped lots of photos, unfortunately now I am paying the price of a sunburn again.

We forgot to get the Route 66 end photo so we will go back tomorrow to do that. But we did get photos of the pier. Look at that Beach.

We are staying at The Inn at Venice Beach, a very nice hotel, well decorated and very reasonable rates. Penny is so excited because we have a balcony that she can go out and have a cigarette with out going down to the parking lot. Only problem the hotel only had one room left, and the Holiday Inn found it for us, the only room has one queen size bed for us to share. Good things we are long time friends! LOL

Venice is so very different from Sana Monica. When we got there it was very family oriented, very clean with lots of kids, parents and general tourist. We decided we wanted something different so we went to Venice beach, my favorite beach. What a dramatic changes. Lots of street vendors, authors, singers, artist, head shops, tourist junk, and places to eat. It is like a Carnival and if you like people watching this is the place to be. Today, Penny and I are going to spend the day on the beach watching people or maybe they are watching us!

Gettin our Kicks on Route 66

Hazel M. Walker

Queen of the Road