The Beach

Today we took an impromptu trip to Santa Monica to visit with my Aunt Rebecca before she starts teaching soon. Nurse J and I loaded up Austin and headed out at 9:30AM, we had no clear plan except maybe to hit some place quaint for lunch and try to beat the LA traffic home.

After a failed trip to The Getty Villa in Malibu (note to self: Closed Tuesday & Wednesday), we decided to hit the Annenberg Community Beach House at Santa Monica State Beach right on PCH. It is set up just like a Private beach club, but it is Open to the public.





As we drove in I winced at the parking rates, at $4.00 per hour we quickly decided we would probably stay an hour as we were just gonna check it out and go eat. (After all, Austin's trach and sand mix like oil & water.) We asked to be directed to a Handicap spot and were told to park wherever we liked, the parking was FREE with a placard. Niice!!

The recently renovated 5-acre property housed a Banquet Area, an Exercise Room, Beach Volleyball courts, a Photography exhibit of Santa Monica, a Lifeguarded Pool with lounge chairs,



a semi-adapted playground, (in my perfect world there would be no sand...but this IS the beach after all.)



a water area for toddlers with some grass & tables for chatty moms,





a Cafe and docent tours of the Marion Davies Guest House.

This was the PERFECT beach setup for Austin. We stayed for two and a half hours. During that time we took the home tour, hit the Cafe for lunch and even took Austin down to the water, thanks to a very well placed boardwalk. Niice!













It was an awesome mini-staycation!!



I hope we can go back soon better prepared! We can take our own picnic lunch and Austin can waddle around the grassy area with the toddler fountain. The only draw back is no alcohol on the premises, so I can't lounge by Pool while Cabana boys fan me and bring me Mojitos. But I can take a nap and dream about it!


Thanks for peeking,