Got back last night. We rented a car and drove out on Friday morning. We stayed on Main in Santa Monica. Traffic wasn't too bad except for just east of downtown. Santa Monica is a wonderful place if you have money. We had lunch on the pier then walked on the beach for a bit. Dinner was at an okay Mexican restaurant on Main.
Friday's Budos Band concert was a bust. The concert was downtown and was supposed to start at 8pm so we set out from Santa Monica at a quarter after seven. Who the hell has traffic jams at 7:30pm? Anyway, we needn't have worried as parking was easier to find than we expected and the warm-up band didn't take the stage until after nine. The warm-up band sucked, really sucked. I won't name them because it wasn't their fault that they were booked for a venue well out of their league. They were very young, inexperienced, and awful. The sell-out crowd simply ignored them; no dancing, no applause, nothing. There was a sense of relief in the crowd when the band finished their set. Another hour past until the Budos Band took the stage. That kind of delay is really inexcusable. They came up strong and it looked like we were in for a good show. Then the pot smoke hit. And more pot smoke. And more pot smoke. My wife is allergic to the shit and it can literally kill her so we had to leave before the band was halfway through the first song. We asked for a refund which is still in the works. Total waste of an evening. The theater is a recently renovated porn theater and looks exactly like a recently renovated porn theater. This is the first time I've had to go through a pocket/bag search on the way into a concert.
Saturday, we split the morning between the beach and the Tar Pits. The Tar Pits were cool but the museum is geared toward fifth graders so lacks much depth of information. Watching the gas bubbles in the pond and the tar bubbles pop was fun. Saturday afternoon/evening we were back on the beach and walked down to Venice Beach. There was an ATOTer on the beach. This group of five drop-dead gorgeous beach babes and a fat guy came down to the water's edge. The women strip to their bikinis, gather round the fat guy for a picture in the setting sunlight, quickly re-dress, hand him the camera, and split. I'm guessing this is some sort of service one can buy to impress your friends back home.
Sunday, we took another walk on the beach and had breakfast at the Urth Cafe. That place is great. On the way out of LA, we stopped at a botanical garden to pick up some more shrubbery for the yard.
</travel log to the big city>