I probably said "I hate the beach" a little too loudly around some local residents, but to be fair, Atticus had just accidentally dumped a good amount of sand on top of the Oreo pancake we bought him for lunch. Plus his face was red despite multiple applications of sunscreen, and Paul's back was none better. The beach is not my favorite place.
Nevertheless, we spent some seven hours in Hermosa Beach while we visited Los Angeles in August, and I fulfilled a goal too -- visiting some "La La Land" locations.
The beach was about an hour drive from Anaheim, and we quickly found a meter around 11 a.m. We paid for five hours -- which I never thought we'd need -- and ended up feeding the meter for another couple of hours. Most of the time Paul and the kids spent swimming and digging holes in the and, while I half-heartedly eavesdropped on a group of teachers having a beach reunion with their young kids and/or grandkids. Our own children made some new friends -- a giant sand hole is a grand unifier, evidently.
We pick up food from a nearby breakfast/lunch place that Paul had scoped out called Martha's. The kids loved the pancakes (minus the aforementioned sand), and my vegetarian sandwich was delicious with thick chunks of avocado, sprouts and more on dark wheat bread. I think it was even called the Californian.
At 4 p.m. we packed up, cleaned off and changed -- except for me, who had only gotten my feet wet. The water (my first time at the Pacific Ocean!) was surprisingly strong, and Paul was told that then waves were bigger than usual. The weather was comfy -- maybe 80 with a breeze. The water was cold.
After dropping our stuff off at the car, we walked along the beach on a nice path filled with walkers, joggers, bikes and skateboards. We went to the pier featured in "La La Land" while "City of Stars" played on repeat in my head. The Lighthouse Cafe was nearby, so I grabbed some photos there too. Alas, I heard no music.
We left around 6, back to the hotel at 7, watched fireworks from just outside Disneyland at 9. What a day.
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