Santa Monica, California

arielaonthegoTravels around USA

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Anyway, this is supposed to be a travel post on my travel blog, so here we go!

From Beverly Hills, we went to Santa Monica. We stayed at The Huntley Hotel in the heart of Santa Monica. It was a beautiful hotel and our room was very spacious. It even had a walk-in closet which was a first. Thank goodness the hotel was close to the pier, because my parents like to walk whenever we are on a trip.

T’was a cold and windy day at Santa Monica Pier… but we were excited to see it, so we went towards the water… where it was colder… the pier has, a whole entire carnival on it! Pretty cool, but the rides kinda looked a bit run down. Me and my dad were planning to go on the roller coaster, but then we were like… so, Santa Monica Pier was in many movies and T.V. shows. But we were a bit disappointed on the current state of the pier because everything looks so old. All we did was take a few pictures, and we were outta there.

The pier is also the end of the Historic Route 66. Route 66 is a highway system from Illinois to California. It’s golden days existed from 1926 to 1985, and due to the construction of a new highway system that is more direct, Route 66 just wasn’t used by motorists anymore. So, the businesses along the highway started to close one by one. You can still drive on Route 66, but keep in mind that hotels, gas stations, and restaurants are very limited.

You can click here to learn more about Route 66.

With nothing much left to do, we headed back to our hotel, looking for restaurants along the way to eat dinner. We ended up at a British place called Ye Olde Kings’ Head. We had fish and chips, obviously a popular English dish. My dad and I LOVE clotted cream, so we had some clotted cream and jam on scones! It was delicious!

My dessert and breakfast

    We woke up the next morning to have breakfast at The Penthouse, which is a restaurant at the tippy tip top of our hotel. There was a very nice view of the beach outside, and no one was out swimming, it was much too cold! My parents decided to go for a drive over to Malibu. (Barbie lives in Malibu, right?) As we drove along the Pacific Coast, we saw people living out of their cars or trailers. But not as bad as the homeless crisis in San Francisco.

    Santa Monica State Beach (photo was taken from the restaurant)
    Malibu Pier
    Houses along the coast

    After a drive along the coast, we went to Venice Beach. My parents said it is also a popular spot, but maybe in the summer time. There were a lot of vendors set up near the beach, with Venice beach T-shirts, artworks, and many others souvenirs.

    Venice Beach

    After seeing everything what we want to see in Santa Monica, my parents planned take me to see the giant sequoia trees at Sequoia National Park the next day. But when we get at the entrance there were warnings about snow, and needing chains for your tires, which is why we didn’t end up going there. The rental car was not equipped to drive in the snow. But hey, maybe we will come back, and I can see all the things that I missed… like swimming at the beach… maybe I’ll go there in the summer…

    But anyway, thank you guys for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post, and you’re all fabulous people 😄👋🏽

    Links to my other California posts:

    San Francisco, California

    Beverly Hills, California

    19 thoughts on “Santa Monica, California”

    1. well another great and honest tour… too bad it was chilly but I do notice that no matter where you travel you find excellent food !!! thanks for the visit

    4. That must have been comical for you to see that notice about chains on tires! There’s an area in Yosemite National Park that you can’t drive through without chains either. You have to remember these are Californians who practically never see snow and only go to “snow country” to get their fix of snow before going back to their cushy weather. It’s comical to me as well

      1. Hehehehe, I think if we had a better car, such as my dad’s car, we could’ve went ahead! Canadians aren’t afraid of a little snow!

    5. A shame Ken and Barbie weren’t there for your visit! I heard that they were relocating to Florida because the Sunshine State doesn’t have all the covid restrictions that the Golden State has. 😁
      But then Florida, while having the Everglades and crocodiles, does not have Sequoias! Definitely go back and walk among the oldest living things on earth!!! There is almost a reverence like in a temple when it is just a family among the giants. God is amazing in His creative wonders like the Sequoias.
      ❤️&🙏, c.a.

      1. Yes, I really wanted to go to sequoias! Maybe I’ll go back there one day! It love to just look up, and see the beautiful forest, and how high the trees go up! 🤍🤍🤍

    6. I see you get a Union Jack with your scone and clotted cream. You don’t even get one of those if you have a cream tea in England! I did have lunch in Ikea a few days ago – Swedish (vegan)meatballs and mashed potato with a Swedish flag stuck in one of the meatballs! Maybe this is how it is now. You get a free flag with every meal. I highly recommend an Ikea lunch (also breakfast). There a quite a few of them in LA. I can’t guarantee that you’ll get a Swedish flag though. Maybe they don’t do that in the US. I have been to Santa Monica & Venice Beach – about 20 years ago. Although I didn’t like LA particularly, I did like Venice Beach & Santa Monica. Enjoy.

    7. Aww… wrong weather for Santa Monica and Venice! SM is great (and super busy) in warm weather. Venice is crowded and a freak show (seriously)… I have never seen it empty like in your pics. I don’t like it… scuzzy people and scuzzy shops. Too bad you didn’t walk the canals… that’s nice in any weather!

      Malibu is boring unless you know where to go/look.

      I’m sorry you didn’t go to the Sequioas… you would have LOVED that!! They’re truly amazing!!

      Hrrmm… are you northbound… maybe Carmel, Monterey Bay, and Hearst Castle soon??

      1. Ahhh okay, I’ll keep these in mind if I ever go to California again! I would love to see how it is when Covid isn’t ruining everything! And uh, I don’t think we’re going to go to any of those places… I think for this trip it’s just LA, San Fran, Beverly Hills, Venice Beach, Santa Monica Hollywood, and the popular cities in Cali! Have a nice day!

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