California, here we are!

What a difference from 0-dark hundred this morning and our last post until now. It is only 8:15 local time, but we're just about beat! After an uneventful flight and an easy van rental pickup - they must have known we're really from out of town since we got a cherry red Dodge Caravan - we got out to the hotel by a little after 1:00 this afternoon. The rooms were ready so we did a quick change out of the travel clothes and headed out for a stroll around.

Our hotel, the Wyndham, is directly across the street from the Santa Monica Pier, so of course that's where we headed to first. Walk down the pier,

 

take a look at the local sea life,

             

and find somewhere to have lunch! After all, Air Canada economy class doesn't feed you any more than any of the American airlines do without having to pay for it. Cheese and crackers for $6??? Better to have a good breakfast at the airport or at home and then really appreciate your first meal at your destination. As you can see, we were already feeling the effects of the time change when we sat down at Bubba Gump's:

              

Norm with Barb's Shrimp 4 Ways

 

              

Larry's Shrimp Po' Boy

 

And afterward, we had to dip our toes into the Pacific Ocean, in Barb's case, for the very first time!

              

We decided to wander around the local area, and maybe find somewhere to have dinner later, and this took us from the beach to the Third Street Promenade, across Broadway, Santa Monica Blvd. and all the way to Wilshire Blvd. before we turned back toward the pier. Not having had quite enough exercise for the day, we then headed down the beach the other way and wandered past the high-end beach hotels including the Loew's Santa Monica Beach Hotel where we had stayed in 2005.

Eventually, we found ourselves back at the Third Street Promenade and at the Santa Monica Place Mall where we discovered a nice wine bar on the top floor. The mall is very much like a pedestrian mall on multiple floors, all open to outside. We got to the Sonoma Wine Garden and had our first official California wines of the trip:

And afterward, since we were all starting to get a little tired, we decided to have our dinner close by and then head back to the hotel. Eventually we decided on Mexican for tonight's dinner, at a restaurant called La Sandia. And boy, was it good!

A trio of (from top to bottom) chicken tamale, chile rellenos and
shrimp and corn enchilada

Trio of nacho soup, cheese enchilada and a taco

              

So here we are back at the hotel, needing a good night's rest ahead of the Los Angeles city tour we've booked for tomorrow. On to the Hollywood Sign, the Chinese Theatre, Rodeo Drive and all the rest. Should be a great time!

Nighty-night, all!!  By the way, all the pictures on this post were taken using Monica's phone! Amazing!