road trip raves: venice beach, los angeles

Whenever my husband and I see a nice beach, all we long to do is to plonk our butts in the sand and laze about in the sun (beach bums for life, amirite?!). This opportunity came along when we hit up Venice Beach in Los Angeles during our week-long stay there.

It's been accused of being touristy, but it's definitely still worth a visit because there is SO much going on there (obviously a welcome change for a city girl now living in rather quiet and slow environs :p).

If you're looking for a quiet, chill time on the sand, this is NOT the place to be. But if you're in the mood for window-shopping and walking down a boardwalk full of buskers, arty shops and more, you're in for a treat.

Also, this was also one of my husband's favourite stops in the LA leg of our trip - and he hates crowds/noise. We're such tropical creatures I know :p

The first stop we made after getting off our Uber (a service I sorely miss in Vancouver) was to hunt down this sweet taco truck selling really cheap eats. It was there that we had this amazing ceviche, which is made of fresh raw fish and seasoned with tart lime juice.

Next off, we wandered around Abbot Kinney Boulevard, which is full of designer stores, cute home decor shops and chic cafes. (I wrote another post on cool cafes in LA if you're hoping to check some out!)

At 3pm, we decided to check out the beach before the sun went down and it would be too cold for us to sit outdoors (remember, this was back in December!). We found a nice spot close to the water and a bunch of big rocks where kids were playing at.

There is nothing like feeling the sun on skin that's been starved of it for so, so long. As the sun warmed me up, I lay down, closed my eyes and let the sound of the waves and children's happy shouts waft over me. It was restful and relaxing - which is exactly what holidays are supposed to be, aren't they?

Scroll on down to check out some visuals from our time there - and if you're ever yearning for a bit of sun during winter, you know where to go ;)