Catching up

I could definitely live on the Southern California coast.  The beaches are warm, there are good places to eat and there are so many spots where you can just hang out and watch people.  Traffic wasn't too bad.  I didn't take very many photos, but this one of the skate park in Venice beach is one of my favourites.  We walked back to the beach after V and I had eaten too many appetizers at a little place up the street and watched the skaters do tricks.  One kid was about 10 or 11 years old and had been skating without a helmet for 15 minutes when his parents showed up and he put his helmet on super fast before they noticed.  You can see the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier in the distance at the top right of the photo.

Venice Beach!  I took this photo at a busy intersection and a man on the street asked me if I was a professional photographer.  Why yes, yes I am.

Here is one of my best selling professional photos (above).  Did you know muscle beach is a real place?  They wouldn't let V in because they were too intimidated.  So many glistening men in teeny tiny shorts.  It was over 100 degrees.  Who can work out in that heat?  Who can work out in any temperature?  Someone told me these dudes are paid to pump iron.  Fact or fiction?  Does anyone know?  I didn't give V a dime.

I have always wanted to go to the Camera Obscura next to the Cliff House in San Francisco but haven't yet.  The past few times I've been near it, it's closed.  When I saw this Camera Obscura sign in Santa Monica I wanted to figure out how I could get in.  I practically ran towards this building.

The Camera room is part of the Senior Center on the walkway towards the Santa Monica pier.  Everyone is so keen on checking out the pier that I bet they miss out on this not-so-hidden attraction.  It was free!  I gave a nice lady inside the senior center my drivers license and she gave us a key and pointed us towards some stairs that led to a door that opened into a dark room with a giant platform that you could turn to see anything that was 360 degrees in that area.