Trip 2005 - Venice Beach

In a second, my life was changed. I was laying on the beach, apparently close enough to the water, when I momentarily fell asleep. I awoke surrounded by water, jumping instantly to my feet and quite possibly erasing years off of my life by working my heart overtime. At first I was concerned because my shoes and shorts were wet, but that concern instantly slipped away when I saw my $400 video camera lying in a pool of sand and water. I picked it up, tried to dry it off, blew the sand out of the crevices; but it was too late. Upon later inspection, my camera was found to have suffered water damages, and was beyond repair. I guess it sucks a lot, but I'm over it now. What bothers me is that my tape got ruined, and I took some quality videos at Zion National Park, Craig's Wedding and at Venice Beach. It would have been nice to have it in San Francisco, where we would be traveling to the next morning. There's not much I can do about it anymore, but at least my digital camera was spared because it was in my front pockets, which stayed above the tide level. So I at least got that going for me...

I've been many places in my lifetime, but for some reason the sun sets better in California than anywhere else I've seen. I have to watch, even though I've seen it before.

Today suddenly took a turn for the worse, and not only am I out a big chunk of change, but now my clothes are all wet and sandy. I was also ridiculously tired and possibly dehydrated.

The kids were still hanging out at the drum circle, but I went back to the car to rest. At this point (evident by the picture on the left) it was nearly dark, and most if not all of the randoms had turned in for the evening. It was at that point that a new set of Venice Beach randoms emerged - the scary ones that you don't want to cross paths with. At one point, I saw a guy ride up on a bicycle and deal some drugs to a patron who had obviously requested them. Also at this point (evident by the picture on the right) I was fed up with Venice Beach and the day's activities. I was exhausted beyond belief, and definitely needed not only a good night's sleep, but also a relaxing soak in the hot tub. It's a good thing that we decided to stay at a hotel near the Los Angeles airport (LAX) instead of the original plan which was to begin driving to San Francisco that evening.

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