The BIG Little Lies California Road Trip - 25th July 2019 - Santa Monica & LA sights

[smithlane]

Day 8

Woke to the alarm at 8. Today we were starting off at Santa Monica Pier and taking a walk down to Venice Beach.

We left the apartment at 9 and the Sat Nav said it would be 50 mins. Should only be a 30 min drive so traffic was bad! The Leans had messaged to say they had only just woken up so we stuck to the original plan and told them to call when they got here.
After a few wrong turns we parked up just after 10 at the side of the pier and paid the $15 parking fee.

We walked across the pier and down to the beach for about 20 mins until we got to Perry’s Beach Cafe. We were now very hungry

You order up at the counter and they cook it fresh. Sam and I went with the Surfers Special which was scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast. Jim had the big wave breakfast burrito which had scrambled eggs, mozzarella, hash browns and bacon in. Hope had her usual croissant! With 4 drinks and tip it came to $73.15.

Took about 15 minutes to come out. Was very tasty but could have been a bit hotter, running theme this holiday!

We noticed that they did bike rentals from here so as we still hadn’t heard from the Leans we decided to hire some and ride down to Venice Beach.
It was $20 for 2 hours which we thought was an ok price. They also give you a 15 minute grace period which is very good of them, not like the Paddleboarding place from yesterday!
We got fitted out then we were on our way. The cycle path is really easy to follow and wide enough for plenty of bikes and pedestrians.

We rode without stopping all the way to Venice Pier. Well, what an absolute crap hole round here! It was a mixture of wee, weed and weirdo’s . The homeless situation was really bad round here, the worst we’ve seen it so far. Not that they ever bothered us it’s just a very sad sight to see

We did a prompt u turn and headed back the way we came. Stopped off at Muscle Beach but it was closed for refurbishment, not having much luck this morning!

The Leans had messaged to say they were on Santa Monica pier so we cycled up to meet them. Quickly stopped back at Perry’s to buy some sun cream as we had stupidly forgotten ours.

We chained the bikes up at the side of the pier and met them at Rusty’s where they’d had breakfast. Once they were finished and paid up we walked up to the end of the pier and back buying some postcards and a magnet as we went.

Our 2 hours was nearly up so to save time we decided that Jenny would ride my bike back to Perry's whilst Helen and I drove up to meet them in the cars.

Only took 5 minutes, we were then on the way to Rodeo Drive. I was driving this leg. Jim was fast asleep as soon as we got going so had to rely on Sam to take photos but he has only just informed me he's deleted all the photos he took . The boy has a million selfies of himself but gets rid of all the photos I need .
We didn’t stop just drove up passing all the fancy shops and cars but you'll just have to take my word for it .

From here we drove up to Griffiths Observatory to see the Hollywood Sign. We were meant to do this yesterday on the way into LA but got there too late. The traffic was horrendous and took an hour to get there. We drove up the twisty road and tried to find a space to park, luckily 2 cars pulled out so we nabbed those spaces.
It’s $10 to park which Jim wasn’t happy with so he had a quick look then sat in the car while we walked up to the Observatory. Nick did the same.
The views up here are amazing! It was blinking hot but worth the walk.

As soon as I took the above photo Sam comes out and says "so where's the sign then?" . Err it's right behind you! Honestly, he must get his brains from his Dad...

We walked up to the Observatory to find a Cafe as we were parched. It's a shame we didn't have more time to explore inside.

Got one bottle of water, 3 fruit juices and a packet of mini cookies. $21 .
We now wanted to just chill out as it had been an active day so far with lots of driving which as luck would have it was on my very carefully put together plan
I put the address of a Whole Foods near Pan Pacific Park and The Grove into the Sat Nav. It only took 30 minutes so the traffic had died down a bit.

I was very excited when I saw this car pull into the car park. Hawaii! Woohoo, I’ve never spotted this one before

We split up in Whole Foods and got ourselves some picky bits for dinner. We chose a slice of pizza each from their hot counter, some fried chicken, a couple of fruit salads, Kettle Chips, some doughnuts and a strawberry shortcake parfait. $59 altogether. Jim went next door to CVS to get us all some sodas.

We walked up to the park and found a nice spot to lie our towels on in the shade.

We soon tucked in, it was seriously good food! They had a great selection of tasty looking BBQ meat so we plan to find a Wholefoods near Oceanside where they have grills for guests to use. It was lovely here, so nice to just relax and regroup watching the world go by.

After an hour of resting we packed up and took a wander over the road into The Grove shopping centre. We entered through Nordstrom and went straight out the other side. This place is gorgeous and very polished, it has a real Disney Springs feel about it.

We took a wander round the shops not buying anything until we got to Brandy Manville. Hope had requested we go here as she is a big fan of their clothes.
She found a hoody, a pair of shorts and 2 scrunchies. Most of the shop is One Size and that size is micro tiny so the only thing I could find that fit me was a navy Malibu cap .
From here we went to get a drink. Walked up to the Farmers Market thinking there would be a bar up there but no luck.

Not many drinking establishments round here but after walking back to where we had started we eventually found one at the top of Nordstrom called Bar Verde.

Got seated on the balcony overlooking the Grove below. I got myself a blackberry lemonade, the other 3 adults a Pillsner and the kids a soft drink.

Not entirely sure what Nick is doing here but Sean doesn't look impressed

This was great to just sit and chill for half an hour watching the world go by.

It was about 8.30 now and we were all shattered so made our way back to the cars. Lucky we went when we did as a tow truck was just about to take away a car, I’m assuming because it had been there longer than 2 hours like we had, oops
Once back to the apartment I sorted some packing out as we are on the move again tomorrow.
Lights out at 10

[moosha]

Loving your report so far, Alicia. Thanks so much, it’s really helping with my planning.

Pan Pacific Park and The Grove look great so they’re going on the list. We often have a Whole Foods dinner in New York but go way overboard with the buffet and salads and end up spending pretty much what we would have spent in a restaurant . But lovely to have a park picnic for a change instead of yet another restaurant meal. The girls also love Brandy Melville so they’ll definitely be up for a trip to The Grove too.

I laughed out loud when I read your comment about Sam deleting photos of your precious California holiday but having a phone full of selfies...sounds exactly like Seren. Teenagers eh?

I’m still going backwards and forwards on the places we want to visit and stay at...I had ditched Santa Barbara completely but looking at your beach photos I’m thinking it’s definitely worth a stop for a few hours, it looks beautiful. I was also planning a few nights in Santa Monica and doing quite a bit of our LA / Hollywood stuff from there but I keep reading bad reports about SM / Venice so I think we’ll just do half a day or so and instead spend more nights in West Hollywood and maybe a night or two in Malibu on the way in. When I went to California in the 90s, we heard gunshots while we were getting lunch around Venice and apparently someone was murdered. So yep, maybe just a flying visit .

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip, thanks for sharing.

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by moosha

Loving your report so far, Alicia. Thanks so much, it’s really helping with my planning.

Pan Pacific Park and The Grove look great so they’re going on the list. We often have a Whole Foods dinner in New York but go way overboard with the buffet and salads and end up spending pretty much what we would have spent in a restaurant . But lovely to have a park picnic for a change instead of yet another restaurant meal. The girls also love Brandy Melville so they’ll definitely be up for a trip to The Grove too.

I laughed out loud when I read your comment about Sam deleting photos of your precious California holiday but having a phone full of selfies...sounds exactly like Seren. Teenagers eh?

I’m still going backwards and forwards on the places we want to visit and stay at...I had ditched Santa Barbara completely but looking at your beach photos I’m thinking it’s definitely worth a stop for a few hours, it looks beautiful. I was also planning a few nights in Santa Monica and doing quite a bit of our LA / Hollywood stuff from there but I keep reading bad reports about SM / Venice so I think we’ll just do half a day or so and instead spend more nights in West Hollywood and maybe a night or two in Malibu on the way in. When I went to California in the 90s, we heard gunshots while we were getting lunch around Venice and apparently someone was murdered. So yep, maybe just a flying visit .

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip, thanks for sharing.

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Thanks so much Michelle!
You need to be so careful in Wholefoods I can see how people can get carried away. I don't know how people do their weekly shop in there .
Your girls would love the Grove. There's an American Girl there too, I'm sure I remember reading in your reports your Freya likes them?
Teenagers are just so engrossed in themselves its ridiculous but Sam is on another level. His vanity is astounding
Oh you must visit Santa Barbara even if it's just for an afternoon, we wished we had stopped for the night. We will definitely return there one day.
I personally wouldn't want to stay around Santa Monica, just didn't feel comfortable but that could have just been me. I've heard Burbank is meant to be nice have you looked there? A night or 2 in Malibu sounds a good shout. You need a 6 week trip to fit it all in
Wow that would certainly put me off staying around there!

[Goldia]

Good idea to hire the bikes today, shame that the area wasn't that great and you didn't want to hang around. Still the rest of the afternoon and evening sounds lovely, the picnic in the park and a bit of chill time was needed by everyone it seems.

I loved that the Hollywood sign had eluded Sam! How funny!

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Good idea to hire the bikes today, shame that the area wasn't that great and you didn't want to hang around. Still the rest of the afternoon and evening sounds lovely, the picnic in the park and a bit of chill time was needed by everyone it seems.

I loved that the Hollywood sign had eluded Sam! How funny!

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It was a real shame as I thought Venice was a recommended beach from on here, turns out it was Huntington Beach that we should have gone to 😬
The latter half of the day was a real highlight, a part of LA that I really liked!
Honestly he is so dim at times I do despair 😂

[KayLouise]

Fabulous day! It seems Venice and Santa Monica are a bit marmite, you either love it or hate it! Griffith Observatory looks great, it's one of the things I'm most looking forward to visiting.
I too giggled at Sam not spotting the sign 😂

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by KayLouise

Fabulous day! It seems Venice and Santa Monica are a bit marmite, you either love it or hate it! Griffith Observatory looks great, it's one of the things I'm most looking forward to visiting.
I too giggled at Sam not spotting the sign 😂

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Yes they really are, we weren't keen at all but they're somewhere you just have to visit while you're in LA to at least say you've been there.
If you can try and spend longer up there than we did, the views are just spectacular. We wished we had explored the actual observatory and park too.
Honestly he is so dim at times it's slightly worrying

[Fuellady]

I was so interested to read about your time in Santa Monica, because of the R66 connection. Good to know there's parking by the pier, I had been wondering about that. Not so impressed by the $15 charge though . The beach looks huge, I didn't realise it was so big. Nice bike ride along to Venice although not so great when you got there. I had heard that the area around Venice Beach wasn't very nice.

The food in Whole Foods looks so lovely and fresh - what a great place to buy food from. Lovely shopping centre too, it looks very classy. Nice to get a chance to chill out for a while in the afternoon too.

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Fuellady

I was so interested to read about your time in Santa Monica, because of the R66 connection. Good to know there's parking by the pier, I had been wondering about that. Not so impressed by the $15 charge though . The beach looks huge, I didn't realise it was so big. Nice bike ride along to Venice although not so great when you got there. I had heard that the area around Venice Beach wasn't very nice.

The food in Whole Foods looks so lovely and fresh - what a great place to buy food from. Lovely shopping centre too, it looks very classy. Nice to get a chance to chill out for a while in the afternoon too.

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Yes I wish I had known in advance how much we would be spending on parking!
The beach really is huge and busy but that would be the time of the year we went, peak season!
The cycling was great just not the destination . Had I researched a bit more we would have just had a flying visit to Santa Monica then moved onto one of the other beaches further South to hire bikes, I think its Redondo that's meant to be nice

I wish we had had more meals in Whole Foods as not only was it really tasty but really reasonable for the 4 of us.
Griffiths Observatory and The Grove certainly redeemed LA for us

[WileyCoyote]

Isn’t the Grove lovely. I remember we liked mooching around there.
Ugh, Venice Beach. Such a let down. Like a giant public loo. But good fun before that at Santa Monica and on the bikes and good fun seeing the Observatory and sign. Your lunch picnic looked so nice . What a great idea and it all sounded delicious.