Los Angeles: Santa Monica

July 15 – 18, 2019

My last couple of days in mainland USA were spent at beautiful Santa Monica. This part of LA is so much calmer, cleaner, and relaxed. I spent most of my time lounging around, walking the promenade, and of course, visiting Santa Monica Pier.

3rd Street Promenade had all the best shopping and restaurants!
Santa Monica Pier

Santa Monica pier was located just a couple blocks from the hostel, HI: Santa Monica. On the pier, there is an aquarium, amusement park, food stands, street performers, and fishermen. I did not go to the aquarium or amusement park because they required an entrance fee. I did enjoy walking up and down the wide, wooden planks of the pier watching the performances and watching the sunset. 

Santa Monica Pier from Ocean Park
Pacific Park Amusement

The pier is over one hundred years old! And the wooden planks that it is made out of showed it. Not that they were unsafe, but were distressed and showed signs of surviving the harsh waters. 

The end of the pier also marks the end of Route 66! The 2,448-mile-long road that stretches from Chicago all the way to the Santa Monica Pier. 

End marker for Route 66!

Being so close by, I was able to visit the pier every day and able to on my last night on mainland US, was able to catch a beautiful sunset! 

Beautiful Sunset on my last night!

I wish there was more I could write about Santa Monica, but I used my time there to relax and catch up on this blog and laundry! I was more than happy to just walk the promenades and pier every day.