Friday, October 17, 2008

The Strand

Perhaps biting off a bit more than we could chew, we started off early this morning intent on biking all the way from the house in Manhattan Beach to the Santa Monica Pier ... a distance of about 13 miles one way. I had hauled Alex's and my bikes out with us in the trunk and Michelle borrowed her aunt's new beach bike.

The bike path along the ocean is called The Strand and extends 22 miles total from north of Santa Monica south to Torrance. It's very scenic, going right along the beach, and passes through Manhattan Beach, Venice Beach and Santa Monica. The weather was great, with a lot of eye candy, and freaks galore.

On the way up, just the other side of Venice, we stopped for a bite to eat:


... continued on up to the pier in Santa Monica:


... walked the boardwalk in Venice (ground zero for freaky people):


... and checked out a few organic clothing shops that I had researched ahead of time, Natural High Lifestyle in Santa Monica, which was so-so (a little foofy and expensive), and Arbor in Venice, which was a lot better and where I picked up a t-shirt.

All-in-all, it was a worthy way of spending a Friday. Nobody got too tired and we all got over 25 miles of riding in. Pretty impressive for the little one especially.

6 comments:

CyberKitten said...

dbackdad said: Pretty impressive for the little one especially.

*Very* impressive!

dbackdad said...

I think mom and dad were more tired than the little one. [sigh]

Laura said...

Jebus. I couldn't do 13 miles, let alone 13 miles BACK. I'm impressed!

wstachour said...

I love L.A. I've got some friends who used to live in Santa Monica and are now just across the border in L.A. proper.

I always note that every oddball I see is looking at me thinking exactly the same thing! It's a good reminder that so much of what we take to be bedrock is only what is the accepted norm in our personal world.

25 miles is a long-ass way!

dbackdad said...

Wunelle - I love L.A. too.

Believe me, I speak of "freaks" in a positive light. My family is full of them. I'd rather be surrounded by people the rest of the work calls "freaks" than people like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. They are the real freaks.

wstachour said...

Agreed. I wish the two examples in your comment were aberrations, but I'm afraid they've represent a wingnut branch of mainstream Republican thinking.

Real freaks indeed.