A Day at the Beach – Venice Beach!

Today was beach day, at Venice Beach! Joe promised we would see every kind of "freak" possible - and I wanted to see all of them! :) You always see Venice Beach on TV shows and movies. It's the beach where girls in bikinis are rollerblading and glistening muscled guys are strutting their stuff. I wanted to see it all for myself.

And I want you to know that I did restrain myself - I left my bikini and roller blades at home! :)

First thing was the weather was absolutely perfect - sunny, clear blue skies with just the breeze blowing just right. If we had planned for a perfect day, we couldn't have done any better.

We just walked along the boardwalk, taking in the sights. All of us did remark, though, that a beach town is a beach town is a beach town. Yes, it's Venice Beach and that makes it special, but beach towns have many of the same characteristics - boardwalk, lots and lots of people (some strange, some not so strange), food, sand, and water. Coming from Maryland, we are used to Ocean City, right along the East Coast.

One thing Venice Beach has that Ocean City doesn't is street vendors. That was different. There were all kinds of things being sold: jewelery, psychic readings, tarot card readings, henna tattoos, musicians and their CDs, artists with their paintings and more. Of course, there were stores as well selling the requisite T-shirts, jewelery, smoking accessories, tattoo parlors and restaurants.

And Joe was right - there were lots of strange, freaky folks! Here are a few pics:

Weird tree guy talking to Joe

Weird bikini guy

Weird mime guy

Of course, this is Venice, right? So, there must be canals! We went took a walk to find them. How beautiful they were. For the most part, the houses along the canals were just gorgeous, with fantastic landscaping.

What a phenomenal day we had. The weather was perfect, the laughter was great, and the joy we had spending time together was awesome. I am so blessed to have a husband who is my best friend; a sister who is also my friend; and a nephew who I adore. Who better to have spent this day with? :)

Joe & Paula

Sisters

There are lots more pics here. Tomorrow Randy, Paula and I are going to Warner Bros. Studio for a tour. We may even see Bugs Bunny!

Until the next time . . .