Our Hotel Ect.

Our Hotel was very nice, although we didn't have a balcony or a view of the ocean. It was a block long and wide.

This is the gate going into the valet service.

This is the front, on Ocean Drive.

Another sign on the corner, I think this sign was on 3 of the corners.

The 2nd largest fig tree in Santa Monica at the valet entrance.

On the other hand, there was a large amount of homeless people.

I really love this hotel, it stood out from the other modern looking buildings. The Georgian.

Interesting Plant, don't know what it is.

Bird of Paradise

That's it! This is my last blog post on our trip to the Rose Bowl. Hope you enjoyed my photos.

Our Last Night In California

We decided on Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

Located on the Santa Monica pier which is a good place for it, considering the movie Forrest Gump had a brief scene at the pier.

One thing I want to say about the restaurants in LA. They are clean! When first arriving the bus driver that took us to out hotel told us about LA's restaurants grading system. Every door as you enter a restaurant has an A, B or C posted. An A means that the health inspector says it is very clean and following proper procedures, B is OK and C you better be really hungry! We never saw a C in any window and just a couple of B's. We ate at A places and they all were a lot cleaner that places in PA, and since I am certified in food service in Pa that says a lot.

Life is like a box of chocolates, Dave sat in for Forrest, a typical tourist!


A night time,stroll on the boardwalk, I need a lot of practice with night time photography.

Malibu Canyon Road

The last place just befor dark was a drive on the Malibu Canyon Road. We stopped at a parking area, they had them every now and then. You could see some of the bushes were burnt at some time.

Here you can see how big the mountains are, with the road weaving throught the valleys.

We didn't stop, anymore after this stop because it was getting dark, we had a map and Breanne found a road to take us back to the Pacific Coast Highway because this would eventually taken us into LA. We turned and at the next intersection and the road was so curvy and scary, some places had no guide rail. I don't know if it was any better that we couldn't see because of the fog. There was some houses along the road and as we drove the road got narrower, some other cars were on the road coming down the mountain. Finally, we did get back and drove back to Santa Monica Pier for diner.

Our Drive On the Pacific Coast Highway

We rented a car on Friday, 1/2/09. We wanted to drive on the coast route 1 also known as the Pacific Coast Highway. It was very foggy that morning and out travel guide thought it might be clear south of Santa Monica, so that's where we started.

These 3 photos where at Venice Beach

This was taken at Dog Beach, we believe it is devoted to dogs because there was a lot of them.

This is an oil rig just of the beach around the Long Beach area. Since the sky were no better to the south we turned around, we took the freeway back to Santa Monica to start out trip up to Malibu.

It was great scenery along the coast and if it were a beautiful day i would have taken lots more photos! We drove so far up and turned around about 3pm. We wanted to stop at a couple of places to take photos and Dave wanted to drive on the Malibu Canon Road.

This poor guy or lucky, I don't know which had eaten or was trying to eat a starfish. Breanne thought it might be stuck in his mouth. He did not try to fly, he just walked around. After we got home I researched and they do eat starfish and swallow them whole.

Sunset

Only the one day or evening we had a chance to get good sunset photos, we were either away from the beach or it was foggy.

This one was from the 5th floor window of our hotel.

Scenes from Santa Monica

Santa Monica Statue

The bluffs, proof California is falling away. Acroos from the hotel were these bluffs, showing the soil erosion, certain areas you could see where the sidewalk once was. these 2 photo where taken ocean level between the beach and Highway 1 or also known as the Pacific Coast Highway.


Here is a different view taken on a different day with a different camera.

Santa Monica Pier

The sign as you enter the pier. Since the pier was within walking distance we went the probably 3 times while we were there.

A view of the pier from the sidewalk close to out hotel.

A pelican hanging out at the pier.

He took off and flew around a couple of times and landed.

The beach and in the background is Malibu from the pier.


The view from the other side of the pier, looking towards Venice beach.

Carousel at the pier.

View from an observation deck at the end of the pier.