Day 1: An Evening in Santa Monica

6/17/05

After the long day my friend Mike and I still wanted to see more of the city (he had never been and in two trips I still had much to see). Both of us decided to take. We drove off toward Santa Monica.

The day was long; however, Mike and I were restless and eager to see more of the city. A couple of girls came along and we took my car out to Santa Monica. It is a beautiful and quaint enclave in the massive urban area. I resigned myself to parking several blocks from the beach (I hate paying for parking) and we walked toward the pier. The twilight view that greeted us at Ocean Avenue was unreal in its beauty the buildings, homes, and the fairy tail-like mini amusement park out on the pier combined to create a setting that could only be rendered by a master artist.

We conversed along the shore, but often the words were interrupted by silent stares and moments taken to ponder the wonder before us. At least that is how I felt, Mike too probably, the girls, Erin and…unfortunately I’m bad with their names…spent most of their time on the phone but that was up to them. We turned to walk out onto the pier. I felt a sense of wonder as I gazed up the shoreline to where the Ocean took a great turn to the west and a distant member of the Santa Monica Mountains hid the sun as it raced away from the California Coast.

A cool darkness had wrapped around the pier. We walked back toward the city, leaving the pier behind. We walked though the Promenade. Saw a couple of shops (there isn’t anything there that I can’t see in Austin so I wasn’t overly thrilled). An oddly placed belly dancer performed in front of Urban Outfitters where Mike found an amazing retro-esque pink and green shirt while the girls joined millions others by supporting Starbucks’ pervasive corporate domination of the legal addictive stimulant market.

We reached the car and took off down Santa Monica Boulevard, which, of course, meant that I had to fight a certain annoying but catchy hit mid-90’s song from getting stuck in my head while making lame comments related to it. After what had to be 30 traffic lights we reached the heart of Hollywood. I found my way onto Sunset using the 101 (getting on and off Los Angeles Freeways is unreasonably complicated, every ramp is different) in search of an In N Out Burger. We found it. Mike got a combo, I got a shake and fries, and the girls missed out by getting nothing. I love In N Out…great food but not expensive, and additionally they are a family owned non-franchise company that donates generally to charities and missions in the L.A. area. Well satisfied we drove back home down the 101 though heavy traffic and the clock approached midnight (something I’m learning not to be surprised about is midnight traffic jams)…ending one of the most eventful, fascinating and fun days of my life.