Tuesday, October 23, 2012

California Dreaming

The days are becoming grey, dull and lifeless as winter fast approaches...the last two days have been completely devoid of light with the rest of the week forecast to be much the same.

A little over two weeks ago I was relaxing and taking in all which Southern California had to offer in an unexpected trip to the States.

I have plenty of pictures to share & am slowly filtering out the best ones (why my camera has suddenly decided to develop a case of 'dust on the lens' I will never know...it is both annoying and painstakingly slow in the editing department)

10 Hours to get to L.A. thankfully Air New Zealand had a lovely, roomy, shiny plane with plenty to entertain an easily bored traveler like myself...8 pages of movies to choose from! & of course such time travel plays havoc with the body clock...5am is never a happy time to wake up, but it did mean my sister & I were out and about exploring the Santa Monica/ Venice Beach area bright and early.

Santa Monica Pier...look so early there's not another soul on the beach!

 Okay, so maybe a couple...

We wandered along the shoreline from the pier towards Venice...fyi the Pacific Ocean is not any warmer than the Atlantic.  There were some hardened folk taking on the surf however.


 I blame years of watching Baywatch in my youth for me finding this so very amusing


The bike/footpath at Venice Beach...either that or the Triffids are taking California...


Venice Beach is an...erm...interesting area with plenty of people expressing themselves...




Those not using a bit of spray paint to express themselves, use other 'talents' to make a few bob



 Optimus Prime has fallen on hard times...now working in a shoe store at Venice Beach


A gratuitous shot of a half naked Lifeguard for your viewing pleasure


 Eventually, I turned away from the finest abs on the California coast to enjoy the other views




We took a tour of the L.A. area on one of the days we were there:

Malibu beach, complete with numerous homes I could never afford.
 

The original Beach Boys beach complete with Surfers U.S.A 'hanging 10'...you get plenty of content in your average Emma holiday pics...& the bad puns are also free ;-)


A car worth $2.8 million on Rodeo drive...of course


 This vehicle is worth much less, spotted at traffic lights round the corner of Rodeo Drive...I think I prefer this one ;-)


 Erm...say what you see...though what you don't see is the guy just out of frame letting his dog take a dump on the grass


The Grove shopping center...the totally opposite of Bognor High Street...& where I spotted Alex Newell aka Wade/Unique on Glee


The tour took us up to the observatory which had stupendous views of L.A. on a beautiful day with temps in the 90s.  We also drove through the tunnel used for the Hover board chase in Back to the Future 2...this made my inner moppet very happy indeed


The mountains surrounding the city
 

Through the slight smog.....I present L.A.
 

Darth Vader & Bumblebee prepare for a smackdown on Hollywood boulevard...who would win I wonder...place you bets.


 Back at Santa Monica & Pacific Park on the pier


 Standing at the spot on the end of the pier where Tom Hanks once stood as Forrest Gump


Beautiful day + West Coast =




 And finally...


No comments: