Venice Beach

We woke up yesterday fairly early, and made our way out the door around 9:30am to head off to Venice Beach, an eclectic strip of shops and wide beaches just south of Santa Monica. Fighting traffic, we got there just about an hour or so later, parked the car, and wandered out onto the the sand. We had every intention of laying out for a while and relaxing on the beach, but we were surprised at how chilly it had gotten through the morning. Steph's apartment in the Valley is a bit misconcieving as it's usually about 20 degrees hotter in the Valley than the rest of LA. Leaving our towels in the car, we decided to take a walk along the boardwalk and take in a bit of people watching. And let me tell you, is this a great place for people watching. Steph's favorite was the guy with a cape. Completely normal looking guy, jeans and a t-shirt...then just this random cape. Oh, and he walked with his hands on his hips, like he was Superman. Let's just say the sights continued to entertain throughout the day.

We had some lunch on the boardwalk, then spent the next few hours wandering in and out of the tiny shops all up and down the strip. Everyone was willing to bargain and there were some great deals to be made. There were blocks of t-shirt shops, surfwear, tattoo parlors (don't worry, mom...I didn't get one) bikini shops, and small eclectic novelty stores filled with imported art and an assortment of oils and scented wares. I specifically liked the wood carvings, but decided not to purchase one as it'd be hard to carry back with me on the plane. They had a very tribal look to them, and I noticed that many of them were shipped over from various islands in the South Pacific. I'll have Steph grab one for me and we'll get it back to Ohio somehow, or I'll just make room for one of them in my bag during the next visit.

We left Venice for home, and fought some of the worst traffic yet on the I-405. It was a good two hours before we made it back to her apartment, and had only a short 45 minutes to shower, change and meet my cousin Kim and their friends' Johnny and Jackie, out for dinner in West Hollywood. We arrived at a neat little restaurant around the corner from Kim called The Alcove only a few minutes later than planned and spent the next two hours eating dinner outside amongst the trees and having a great amount of conversation with their friends. Johnny's girlfriend, Jackie, is a working actress, so her and Steph had a great amount to talk about through the night, as I mostly talked movies and travel adventures with Mike and his Johnny. He was a really interesting guy that is not only a working musician (his call to fame singing holiday songs in mandarin chinese...elevating him to some kind of celebrity god status throughout China) but has also traveled extensively throughout Asia and the Middle East. Some of the stories he told from those travels were top notch.

We said good-bye a little after nine and shot over to Hollywood and Highland to meet Steve and his girlfriend Stephanie by the Chinese Theater. We went to a bar called UWink, and played a few screen games over some martinis and margaritas. After a few short hours and some great laughs, we all decided to take off around midnight, but not before Steph was invited to Thanksgiving dinner with Steve and Steph. They exchanged numbers and we all went on our separate ways, comfortable that three days in, Steph has already made a few good friends, and even more comfortable with the fact that those friends are connected to both Ohio and me...it just helps, and puts my heart at ease.