Drove across the Mojave Desert from Arizona to California and ran into a blinding thunderstorm – almost had to stop driving the rain was so heavy. But it didn’t last long and we were soon in brilliant sunshine again. Got onto the first of many six-lane (each way) freeways at San Bernadino about 35 miles from LA. Our hotel was in the Korean district – Korean signs everywhere – opposite the Seoul Hotel and next door to a Korean restaurant, so naturally we had Korean BBQ for dinner – not bad.
Drove out to Hollywood Boulevard and saw all the stars’ names on the sidewalks and visited Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Had no interest in looking at movie stars’ mansions so we drove out to Santa Monica (Muscle Beach) – through another heavy storm - but there was no muscle on display. Back in sunshine, we had lunch (beer for me) at Venice Beach a little further south and a little bit nicer and more upmarket.
Driving from one place to another in LA means merging from one freeway to another – then another. Little Tokyo was a bit disappointing and Chinatown was not much better but the food was ok. Next morning we drove out on the Pacific Highway to the north towards Yosemite via Malibu and Ventura – nicer beaches than Santa Monica.
