Day 2 - Santa Monica

Woke up Saturday morning about 7:00 and headed south out of Lathrop. I5 one very long and straight stretch of highway. It is amazing to see what irrigation has done for this area. We hadn't driven that stretch of road in probably 7 years. Lots of olives, almonds, and what-not. Dry hillsides with nothing much more than brown grasses and scrub. But the areas that are irrigated - WOW what a difference. It really hit us how irrigation has changed this area when we went by an abandoned grove of trees. They are now just sticks in the dirt without a trace of green.



Anyway, we made it to Santa Monica; our hotel is about 1 block from the beach. We explored the 3rd Street Promenade and had lunch at Barney's Beanery that has been around since 1920 and has Route 66 logos all over the place. It is the 3rd oldest eatery in LA (at least the one in West Hollywood is).



Route 66 starts here in Santa Monica; not sure whether it is at Olympic and Lincoln or Santa Monica Blvd and Lincoln. We'll go both places today and look for signs. Both spots are just minutes away by foot.



The highlight of the day was the trip to Dodger Stadium to see the Dodgers take on the San Diego Padres. Well it would have been more of a highlight if the Dodgers had won. It was a low scoring affair with the aces for each team pitching: Jake Peavy for the Padres and Brad Penny for the Dodgers. It was tied 1 to 1 after nine innings - Nomar Garciapara hit a homer in the middle innings. But Brett Tomko gave up a couple of doubles in the 12th inning; then Trevor Hoffman came in for the Padres and shut us down.



But the seats we had were the best seats I've ever had for a sporting event. A box of 4 seats just 4 rows off the field just outside the infield dirt on the 1st base side.



Here are some pictures of the game!