Los Angeles trip, August 2007
Friday: My alarm clock went off at 7AM in Austin, TX. I woke up and went to work like any routine day. I read an email from Mark Burmeister that invited anyone to attend a Friday evening Giants-Padres baseball game in San Diego, CA for a chance to see Barry Bonds tie Hank Aaron's home run record. I accepted Smackmeister's invite, left work early, and flew to San Diego. The record wasn't broken but we had fun at the game which served as a great excuse to take an impromptu vacation.
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Saturday: Venice Beach to Santa Monica Pier Run: After San Diego the rest of my trip was in Los Angeles. Mark and his girlfriend live in an apartment complex overlooking Venice Beach. Here's my first run to the Santa Monica Pier and back. The run was 6.3 miles round trip.
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Venice Beach from Smackmeister's 12th floor apartment
Sunday: Venice Beach to the Pacific Palisades: Smackmeister and I took a bike ride up the coast to the Pacific Palisades, out toward Malibu. 14.5 miles round trip.
Monday: Venice Beach to Manhattan Beach: Smackmeister had to work so I took a solo bike ride down south to Manhattan Beach. This ride was 18.4 miles round trip.
The Manhattan Beach Pier and some Baywatch lifeguard trucks
Tuesday: Venice Beach to Santa Monica Pier Run again : I took another run using the same route up to Santa Monica Pier as I did on Saturday. This time I left my headphones behind and ran with the sound of the ocean. I ran in the soft sand area where the beach met the water. Boy it felt good. 6.3 miles round trip.
This was shot from Smack's apartment building. The run is from there to the ferris wheel in the background and back
Wednesday: Skateboard Trip to heart of Venice Beach. Smackmeister and I went old school like we did in PAT and went skateboarding. Surprisingly, several years and several pounds later it all came back to me as we were cruising along the Venice Beach path on wheels. 2.1 miles round trip.
Sunset at the Venice Beach skate park.
I left back for Texas on Wednesday. In hindsight, here's all the beach I covered in LA.
Zooming in brings you exactly to Smackmeister's apartment building. Use the 'hybrid' feature for city labels.