Sunday, August 14, 2011

Redondo Beach


On Friday, the boys and I went down to Redondo Beach to have lunch with Sophie's camp class and to check out the sites. I'll be posting this week a bit more about Communicamp, the fantastic camp that Sophie is attending for two weeks, but today I'll just entertain you with our adventures.

The camp sat on a bluff overlooking the pier

View south from the pier


We dared to enter The Great White Shark Exhibit, paying $1.50 for a tour of a taxidermied sixteen-foot great white caught off the west coast approximately five thousand years ago. Our tour guide was a suspiciously earnest balding woman who also manned the cash registers where strange tourists purchased an assortment of shellacked shells and samurai swords. The boys, naturally, thought the place cool.


The entrance to the exhibit
After the educational tour, we walked to the pier, an old-fashioned, wooden one where the boys and I goofed off.



Then we ate a mediocre lunch at a local tourist trap that looked deceptively attractive as it hung over the water but turned out to be a lot more than shabby. A seagull landed on the ledge right beside our table and proceeded to join us as we ate, a flopping small fish in his beak. I would have taken a picture, but it happened so suddenly and he was so close that it was all I could do to swallow my own bite.


Every Hour is Happy Hour!



All in all, Redondo Beach pier appeared to be a  time capsule. The only difference, I imagined, from what it looked like fifty or more years ago was probably that the blonde California surfers and bikinied chicks had been replaced by hordes of Latino families -- the new face of California.

10 comments:

  1. Every one needs a Redondo Beach day. I've had mine. I can see how the boys would find it cool.

    I assume that great white shark caught 5000 years ago was preserved in the Egyptian embalming style.

    Hope Sophie enjoys her camp experience near the sea.

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  2. i love that picture of you. you look like you're twirling.

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  3. Every hour is happy hour, indeed ... especially so at that eating establishment, it seems.

    Also love that picture of you! You should frame it.

    Hope Sophie had a good time at camp.

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  4. LOVED your description of The Great White Shark Exhibit.

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  5. Reminds me of Old Florida Attractions and as such, LOVE IT!
    Mostly love the faces of you and your boys.

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  6. There is something about going to the tourist destinations that somehow feel fun and silly!

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  7. Looks like a sparkly blue day .... Cute picture of the boys goofing off and of you looking pretty .... But I especially love the signs: I'm watching you .... And happy hour is every hour. A sort of metaphor for the yin and yang of life on earth.

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  8. i love your face tilted upwards...catching the light.

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  9. Such simple, satisfying summer adventures you are having. I love that you guys take off and thoroughly enjoy what every place has to offer you, near or far.

    That seagull was honored to share his lunch with you lot, I bet.

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