VENICE BEACH

When I visited the Santa Monica Pier I basically went down the street to visit Venice Beach. It is only a hop, skip and a jump east of Santa Monica.

Venice Beach is quite an adventure. If you're going to go I suggest heading out early because it can get quite crowded and finding parking is a zoo. I tried to vist Venice Beach about a month ago and was stuck probably 10 minutes getting down one block. This time I went during the week and parking was wonderful BUT some of the little stores were closed and it didn't offer the same variety or volume of people and things to see.

You'll find the touristy type of things to buy (t-shirts, beach clothing, trinkets, jewelry, sunglasses and some art), entertainers hoping you'll leave a tip or two. You can get a henna tattoo at several places along your walk, maybe watch or join a game of basketball, maybe the muscle builders are still there showing off their pecks in their own little corner. Or maybe you'll rent a bike or take your skates and get a little exercise as well.

Stroll the walkway of entertainment or venture across to the beach and enjoy the ocean view, maybe take a dip after passing the grafitti covered statues before you reach the sand. Venice Beach is definitely not just your average beach.

REDONDO BEACH PIER

The Redondo Beach Pier is some place I used to go a lot when I was much younger. Whenever a friend and I were looking for something to do on the weekend we'd usually jump in a car and take a little trip down the coast to Redondo Beach. I'm sorry to say the pier is not what it used to be and that was evident by how empty it was. If you're looking for some place to eat with definite atmosphere or lots of seafood, I'd definitely suggest taking in the pier. It's got some shopping but nothing at all like it used to be.

They did have one of my favorite stores there even though they moved from the location I remember them being before. The kite store.

I confess - it's one of the reasons why I wanted to go to Redondo Beach. I'd been talking about buying a kite for fun but had not done it yet. I knew I would buy one before I left... and I did. In fact, I bought one for myself and one each for my grand niece and grand nephew. The store is (I think), the Sunshine Kite Company

The Pier has a Kite Festival the 2nd Sunday of March every year. I'd forgotten about it. If I'd know they would be doing the 34th Annual Festival of the Kites tomorrow I would have waited. Part of me really wants to go back tomorrow but the other part really doesn't want to deal with traffic another day. It's tempting. I've been to a couple before and it's something else to see the sky full of so many different kites.

As for the rest of the pier, it is some place to go and parking was only $2.00. I don't know if that was a flat rate or because I wasn't there that long. Again, there's plenty to eat. If you like fishing you can fish off the pier. You can take a boat ride for $15.00, there's the same huge game arcade for anyone who likes games, a few shops and plenty of boats to look at. On top of all that you can enjoy the wonderful sea air.