Friday Night Field Trip

Welcome to Friday Night Field Trip

FNFT is a semi-regular feature here that highlights our experiences exploring our new surroundings in California.

Can you guess where our adventure took us this week?

The Beach!

Talk about waiting until the last minute! This was my last official week of summer vacation. Carl worked his bum off earlier this week pulling some very late nights so that we could head to the beach on Friday before the Labor Day Weekend crowds arrive.

Our destination was Venice Beach. We parked the car between the Santa Monica Pier and the Venice Fishing Pier and decided that we would walk on the beach at the waters edge down to the Fishing Pier. It didn't seem to far of a walk when we started, but with a little help from Google Maps when we got home told us that we had walked 2 miles to get to the Pier! It was worth it.

This was the half way point.

We finally made it to the Pier and treated ourselves to some french fries and a coke. The Venice Fishing Pier has been used in many films and it was awesome to walk down it. Just as we walked onto the Pier my husband, without saying a word to me, turned around and walked up to this man that was standing on the Pier and asked him, "Are you Richard Brooker?" and the man looked a little stunned but said, "Yes I am".

Richard Brooker played Jason in the 3rd Friday the 13th movie, he was the first Jason to wear the famous hockey mask that his character is famous for. Carl is a huge fan of his and couldn't get over that fact that there he was just standing on the Pier and that we just happened to be there at that exact moment.

This is Carl on the Pier calling his best friend Brian in TN to share the news of his encounter.

We then walked back to our car via the Venice "boardwalk" where all the street performers and vendors set up. We stopped for a few street shows but were glad to escape the crowds and made our way back to the beach. We laid out for an hour on the warm sand and attempted to stick our feet in the ocean but it was very cold. I combed the sand in font of us for some shells to send home to our nieces.

I love the bright colored life guard stands at the beach.

I love this picture of my husband.

We were both getting so sleepy relaxing on the beach that we decided to head off to dinner before we fell asleep in the sand.

We went to an Irish Pub called Finn McCool's. We heard about this restaurant  from a program that aired on the Food Network that featured the top 10 spots for bar food. The entire restaurant is made from pieces shipped over from Ireland. All of the staff are also from Ireland and the food is authentic and delicious.

After dinner we strolled along Main Street and grabbed some coffee at The Coffee Bean before heading back to the car. The drive home took us up the coast on the Pacific Coast Highway and onto Topanga Canyon Blvd which is a super curvy mountain road. We stopped at an over look to enjoy the sparkle of the city before making our way down the mountain. The pictures didn't come out too well, but the sight was magical up there.

Our last stop was at Yogurtland in Sherman Oaks. If you've never heard of it, it's a frozen yogurt self serve place. They have awesome flavors- Carl got Vanilla Wafer and Mango and I got a combination of Cheesecake, Peanut Butter, and Chocolate. I added some Health Bar pieces and Carl added cereal bites. It was delicious and well worth the 20 minute wait in line.

Oh, what a day! It was the most calm and relaxing day that I've had all summer. We both regret not having gone to the beach sooner, but I think we enjoyed it even more because we hadn't been before.

Carl headed back into work today (Saturday!) and I will officially be returning on Tuesday. I went in to work on my classroom last week and I will be going in on Monday to get more of a jump start. I need to learn how to go to bed at 10 PM and get up at 6 AM again! Wish me luck!

I hope you enjoy your long weekend and thank you for stopping by for Friday Night Field Trip.