Ma’Kai in Santa Monica

Yesterday we spent the day driving up the coast of California. The crazy busyness of our lives of late led us to rent a car, and just lazily drive with no real time-frame involved. No deadlines, no hurried rushing to the next place.  We stopped when we wanted to and drove when we wanted to.

We walked the streets of Santa Monica and saw some beautiful sites.

I love all the brightly colored vintage looking buildings we’ve seen.

We dined at a sushi place right on the corner with a view of the ocean.

The patio was a little cool but we warmed up with the help of this.

We had several types of sushi, including spicy tuna, salmon with mango and a horribly unhealthy version that was like a jalapeno popper.

Oh my goodness was this delicious!   It was whole jalapenos filled with crab salad, deep-fried and drizzled with spicy mayo.  While I wasn’t all that excited about the rest of the sushi, this was yummy!

We are in California, after all, we must get our sushi fill.

We spent some time playing on the beach in the evening sun.

Then we began the long walk across the beach towards this…you may recognize it.

The Santa Monica Pier.

It was quite the walk but I didn’t mind.  I took off my sandals and let the cool soft sand slide between and over my toes.  We don’t have nice sand in Oklahoma, so it was a pleasure.

The Wonderful guy kept his shoes on I think.

The pier is a bustling flurry of people walking, vendors selling items and even some “musicians” trying to get recognition and earn a few dollars while doing so.

At the end is a restaurant.

They didn’t turn on the lights to the park and we weren’t sure why.  Maybe it is only open on the weekends.  But we did see these guys as we looked at the ocean over the railing of the pier.

Afterward, we walked back up the streets of Santa Monica and grabbed a coffee and shared a Key Lime Tart at this little coffee and lunch shop.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.