Sunday
Around Los Angeles

After a really good night's sleep, down to the hotel dining area for breakfast, then off to Santa Monica. No traffic since it was a Sunday morning and we were heading towards LA. We parked at a parking garage and walked to Santa Monica Pier.

Stopped in a small gift shop and picked up a few things (a lanyard, some shot glasses for Charles). Walked to the end of the pier to look out over the bay. Very nice. Gwyn took my picture under the Bubba Gump Shrimp sign, with my feet in Forrest’s sneakers. Then we walked down to the beach, and took our shoes off to get our toes in the water. It was cool, but nice. Walked back up to the road, and walked along the park. Headed over to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for a snack. We got a cold pressed pineapple, mint drink that was really good.

Since we were not feeling jet lagged, we headed off to the Griffith Observatory. It was busy, so we could not park in any of the lots. We finally found a spot at the end of the street before the street headed back out into the residential area. We were going to wait for the bus, but decided to walk up instead. Not a bad hike, about one mile.

We walked around the observatory. It is huge. There are fossils in the floor if you know where to look. Downstairs is a really nice exhibit on the planets. Stopped in the gift shop and purchased a Pluto tee shirt. We waited in line for tickets for the planetarium show , then walked around the outside looking at the views. The show was very nice, but some people from the 3:15 pm show snuck into the 2:15 pm show, causing a seating issue. Once that was resolved, the show went on. I enjoyed it, but Gwyn’s vertigo was not nice to her.

We walked back down to the car, and then headed to Old Pasadena to walk around. We stopped at a Starbucks for a snack, and enjoyed walking around, stopping in a few shops. Both of us picked up a Tournament of Roses pullover, and I bought some draw-string bottoms. Turns out that the vendor was originally from Southern Maine. We chatted with him a bit. Both of us were getting hungry, so we happened upon a local who recommended Fleming’s as the place to go for supper. The petite fillet mignon was delicious! Since we did not have reservations, we were seated in an area that was outside, but the open area where windows would be it was covered with plastic. It was very nice, and looked just fine. A family was seated next to us, and their little girl was well behaved. I ordered some truffles for dessert, and they came back to the hotel with us. Back to the hotel by 7:15 for the night.