Los Angeles

[richlevy]

On the November trip, I went to the La Brea Tar Pits and Rodeo Drive.

I just got back from my final trip to L.A. On my free day, two coworkers and I took a trip up the Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica to Point Mugu, about 30 miles.

It's a beautiful area. The hillsides are dotted with the compounds and in some cases, actual castles, of the rich and famous. It's a place where the phrase 'a million dollar view' really means just that.

We had lunch in Venice and walked along Venice Beach, which is hard to describe. For those people who think California is wierd, and the LA area is the wierd part of a wierd state, Venice Beach is the landing zone for every strange character on this planet.

Instead of a boardwalk, it's a very wide walking path. In the center, for about a mile, are shops on the landward side and along the beach side are vendor tables and blankets selling almost anything, real or imaginary. A lot of djembe drummers, didgeridoo players, people selling 'tobacco' pipes made from almost anything, crystal sellers, and one girl who looked a little like Alice in Wonderland hopping up and down behind a blanket of trinkets with an intensely blissful expression on her face.

I only took (or asked someone else to take) three pictures. I should have left on the video because it was absolutely one of the most unique places I have visited.