Santa Monica and Venice Beach

Santa Monica and Venice Beach are only 20 minutes from us making them perfect day trips!

Meredith and I went down to Santa Monica to have brunch and walk on the boardwalk and Pier.

We decided to check out a restaurant named Coast. It is in a hotel and located right on the ocean!

That was probably the fanciest salmon bagel sandwich I have ever had! It was delicious too! Then we walked down the boardwalk towards the Pier.

We headed over to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for some chai lattes.

We learned while we were there that Route 66 ends in Santa Monica!

There are so many places to walk around and enjoy the beautiful ocean here too. While we were there, a man was outside singing and playing guitar so we stood there and enjoyed it.

On another day Aaron, Meredith, and I all went to Venice Beach.

After checking out the board walk, we walked to Abbot Kinney Blvd.

Once we got to Abbot Kinney Blvd we were surrounded by places to eat and shop. We settled for The Butcher's Daughter. Such a clever name as everything here is vegetarian!

The cocktails were delicious along with the bread and cauliflower. We took a nice walk back to the car and drove over to Whaler Bar & Grill which is located right on the beach.

After that we headed home and played cards. It is has been very enjoyable having so many places to check out that are close by!