This was the beach day. This trip is wedged into a small weekend of time. Bike riding on Ocean Ave- too complicated. Swimming and sunning in the pool- the inconvenience of being famished and having already showered. Still, our beach worked out just fine.
First order was to get breakfast. We had already scouted out the Crepe Cafe. As we walked along the promenade, it was dead compared to the excitement of Saturday with filming. It was quiet and sunny. People biked where makeshift Jamie Oliver “cook-off” set had been.
We tucked into the cafe around 0930 with a scattering of tables left. In Seattle, it would have had a line out the door. Here, the brunch crowd sleeps in and line only formed when we were leaving. I tried brie and prosciutto and Wayne tried egg, Emmental cheese, ham. We split a strawberry crepe.
We walked to the beach. From the view from our room, looked like the beach was just beyond Ocean Ave. What I didn’t realize was the beach is down a steep cliff and across a highway.
So our beach walk became a trek. The sand was wide and fine. I put sandaled feet in the ocean, but walked back with clumps of sand clinging to my feet. It was like a desert with no one else on the sand. Everyone was biking and walking on the beachside path. This changed by the time we got to the pier. I guess Sunday is more of a sleep in day in LA.
We walked up the stairs, over the highway, and past the scent of pee up to the hotel. We quickly packed up and said goodbye to the Shangri-La. I was sad not to try out the pool and hot tub and rooftop bar. Only so much time. We made the noon checkout.
It was Pier time. As Wayne said, if we didn’t make it to the pier, it would be a travesty. For all my summers spent in Orange, SoCal is unfamiliar to me. Santa Monica is where my parents met and married. It is the cradle of my creation in a sense.
At this point, we got caught up in the debris of travel. We had to check out of the hotel, return Wayne’s tuxedo, move the car, and find a new parking space close to the pier. The marine fog started to move in. One kiosk owner confided that this fog hadn’t come for months (I assumed it was a regular event). The mist made entering the pier seem like entering a different world. Wayne had a sour stomach. We hadn’t eaten lunch. I was on the edge of hunger despite our morning of crepes. The first thing I did was grab some kettlekorn to ease my hunger. It actually settled Wayne’s stomach, too. Then we walked slowly through time and LA and ocean mist.
Below us, on the beach, a herd of segways scooted following a tour guide. The ferris wheel rose up and defined the skyline. There was a place to learn circus skills and play on a trapeze. There were fisherfolk in all sorts of nooks and crannies on the pier. The pier is also the end of Route 66 and home of Bubba Gump Shrimp.
As the fog moved aside, we bee-lined to the ferris wheel so we could enjoy views. It was peaceful, like laughter floating on a sea breeze. We photographed and smiled and laughed.
I rode the dragon and nearly lost my hat. I loved that Wayne took photos of me. Normally, he would be wrangling kids. It was nice to be his focus in this moment.
We ended the rides with a carousel ride.
We returned to the promenade and found the perfect lunch spot, Pizza Antica. They seated us right away and we had a phenomenal pancetta, broccoli, carmelized onion pizza. They also had very interesting sodas. We tried sour cherry limeade and blood orange limeade. Not your normal soda offering. We ended with apple huckleberry crisp with vanilla gelato. That was dinner.
More travel details. The casulties of a short weekend. Google maps on the iPhone beat our gps for navigating us to the airport. The GPS seemed stuck in an infinite loop. How did we spend the airplane ride home? Planning another trip. Having the car in the airport garage waiting for us at 10pm with Seattle rain coming down was priceless.