Until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard

Well as the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard we are still fast asleep....no alarms set no fixed plan. A relaxed day is called for after yesterday. All we want to do is have some fun.....When we get up we decide Hollywood is for tomorrow it's only half an hour away and tomorrow should only be about a three hour drive now we are sticking to Satnav rather than trying to stick to a now defunct twisting and turning though very characterful old road. So we try to

Skype Mum and Dad but no answer but we do catch up with Elle, Nurul and both of the kids, it's always good to speak to them.
So we are just over 2 miles from Santa Monica Pier we can catch a bus just outside for $1.25 each. We need to get down to the End of Route 66 sign. A bit of a sad moment really the main part of our trip is over Donna's role as keeper of the Route has come to an end as Garmin will now be in charge of navigation, though I am sure she will still be giving valuable advice on stop signs and lane discipline lol.
LA is always hot and sunny or so we are led to believe.......not today cloudy breezy with the very occasional spot of rain, I don't think we got hit by more than one spot in any 30 seconds. Well it was still warm enough for us at 82F and was so much more comfortable than yesterday and the sun came out now and again. To be fair you only felt the breeze on the beach and pier.
Well we got our photo's at the End of the Road signs and had a good wander down the pier, a bit like being at home really lol except for the police vehicles on the end of the pier. Disaster struck on the pier as Donna caught her shoe on one of the large rivets that hold the wooden planks in place, her favourite flats snapped and were left flapping from her foot by the ankle strap. Luckily Donna's pride was the only thing hurt and my wallet as we had to buy some flip flops from one of the pier shops for $10! We saw the original Muscle Beach

where the home fitness craze originated, there are still a lot of items of athletic equipment that were being used though we didn't see any real muscle men I think they are now a bit further south at Venice Beach. The beach is lovely golden sands, not Mablethorpe obviously, there is even a narrow road through the beach area for cyclists, roller skaters and walkers. I managed to get my usual sand inscription done and we paddled in the Pacific. We had a good walk around some of the shopping areas and a beer sat outside the British pub. We shared a cheese and jalapeño pretzel and then hung around to see the sunset but like I said only we could choose a cloudy day so as it dropped down behind the clouds that was it just a warm glow around the edge of the mountains to the north and some red skies to the south.
We caught the bus back to the Great Western Gateway. We decided to try the IHOP ( International House of Pancakes ) which is attached to the hotel. We ordered a sharer to start and a main each I ordered Fish with mash Donna had Chicken Cordon Blue....then found out

you got soup free... needless to say we were both stuffed and left the garlic bread. Well the fresh air has done for us so it's time to sleep.