"West is Best"

We packed the car up and headed WEST. You know what they say. "West is Best" and I'm a believer!

Just look at how we started our vacation, with the best west facing views ever! The vibrance of a sunset is so amazing.

Recently, I read that the longer the lens you use while shooting a sunset the larger the sun will appear in your picture. If you shoot with a normal lens (17-55 mm)the sun will look very small, like these photos here. I wanted the sun to be a bit more significant in the pictures at at end of this post (ocean sunset photos) so I used a longer lens(telephoto)See for yourself the difference.

B.T.C tried something new when he booked us a room at a place we had never been to before. It was an apartment building right in the heart of the noise and entertainment. When you walk out the front doors of the building we stayed in you are literally right smack dab in the middle of the famous Venice Beach strip. Although a little noisier than we are used to we warmed up to the place and ended up loving it.

Getting settled in

This is what you see when you step out the door.

This place reminds me of an endless carnival. It's packed with weird and wonderful street performers. It has many shops and lots of food all catering to the tourists. People are everywhere doing various things from shopping to biking, rollerblading, lifting weights at Muscle Beach, swimming, or, like us, just simply people watching.

The choices for entertainment were endless but lets just start with this guy...

Seriously?!? This is where he lives! In his "honky tonk" thingamabobwhosiewhat motorhome. How's that for a description. It's the only thing that came to mind?!? If this happens to be your Uncle Biff, Fred, Harry???(never got his name, just guessing) I'm really sorry, I'm not trying to poke fun here. I mean, I like the guy, he's entertaining!

NEXT...

the tree man.

He was exceptionally tall, and odd looking . You pay him a buck and you get to take a picture with him. I didn't pay the dollar but still captured this photo by hiding behind a... wouldn't you know it... a tree!

Next...

This fabulous lady.

She could dance so effortlessly for hours. It was seriously amazing! Look at the colors, its so fascinating! In this next photo I slowed down my shutter speed to capture her movement. It reminds me of "fine art" photography. I love it!

Next...

This little guy won the hearts of many and probably made the most money on the strip, based on looks alone. Ok, so there you have it. Some of my favorite "people watching" photo opts. Now we'll move on to the shopping.

Each of the kiddos were given a little cash to pick out a souvenir. The hard part was narrowing down the choice...

This little lady was a bit overwhelmed with narrowing things down. She would have liked one of E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

She ended up with...NO...not this, but...

this little turtle she named "Murtle".

This guy got his picture taken only after it's owner pleaded for Dawson and I to press our noses up to his. We declined the opportunity after learning what would happen from our experience in Laguna Beach. It would bite your freakin' nose off for sure! Wesley was up for the challenge. Nothing happened. Nice blue parrot! Much nicer than the Laguna parrots!

After shopping came one of my favorite activities...

Renting bikes and riding them along the boardwalk in Venice Beach and Santa Monica.

Next...

Watching another beautiful sunset only this time with an unobstructed view. I love the golden light a sunset provides and even more so when it casts its warm glow across the faces of my children as they play on the beach.

A little apprehensive to try what the big brothers are doing.

Now lets swing around and capture a few photos looking the other direction.

These two sisters share a special bond that I hope carries them through this journey called life.

This is a picture of Nathan and Wesley still in the water as the sun sets.

Thanks Mr. B.T.C for an amazing trip...

packed with fun and entertainment!