The Real Day 6 - Venice Beach

Sorry, folx, I mis-typed the day’s number yesterday. On to today, the REAL Day 6…

Venice Beach!!

Why am I so excited about a beach?

It’s time to hunt for fossilized shark teeth!!

Venice Beach is one of those places where lots of my interests intersect – fossil hunting, beach, beautiful water. There’s still that glowing plasma ball in the sky, but hey, no place is perfect.

Getting ready, true to this trip, was tricky. Hat? Check. Linen overshirt? Yep. UV sleeves? Got ‘em. Sandals? Yay, yes, thanks to our friend getting rid of her extras (first time I’ve worn sandals since the car accident I’ve already written about, oh, about fifteen years ago. The accident, not the writing). Water shoes?

Water shoes?

Bueller??

Sigh.

Welp, I’m not waiting around for them to magically appear, off we go!

Driving down wasn’t too bad, since we took the toll road. Quick, easy, perfect weather, found a parking space easily in the parking lot at the access point. With loins girded, we walk out the boardwalk, and turn south towards the first lifeguard shack.

I was missing my bestie, L. Normally when we go beach combing, she magically appears at my elbow, asking, “Sooo, what am I looking for?” And we look at what’s there, and I show her what the cool thing is, and how to separate it by color from the other stuff on the beach.

Well, our friend is a very quick study. As soon as I showed her what color and shape that she’s looking for, off she went – and found one within minutes.

At least I’m a good teacher…

I loved wandering thigh-deep in the water, with hardly a wave in sight. The beach had people, but it didn’t feel full or over-peopled. Most were there for the same reason I was, and we would set up a small station above the high tide, and off in relay to hunt in the waves.

Now, two things I didn’t factor into my equations, that ended up being a big problem: firstly, the skirt I chose to cover a bit more of my thighs than my flutterkini had a terrible accident with reality, and the elastic basically disintegrated. Good for diet plans, bad for beach walking. So I fell twice in the water, because that combined with the fact that I get dizzy when I bend over (thanks, double diagnosis), and when shark tooth hunting in the tidal zone, well, you gotta move fast.

Sigh. Stuff happens.

I’m fine, but my dignity was left in tatters somewhere between tides.

Eventually I sat in the sand, and hubby or friend brought me scoops of potentially good stuff from the surf. I did find a lovely small shark tooth in it, so I’m very pleased with my find. And some fossil palm bark, which is cool.

Hubby concentrated on “meg nugs,” chunks of tumbled megalodon tooth or other fossil bits that were broken up by the time they got to land.

Our friend? She didn’t sit on her thumbs, oh no, she also found a sand dollar tooth, what looks like a vertebra, a chunk of what looks like jaw with a line of what looks like teeth in it, fossilized kitten’s paw shells, a fossilized crab claw, and a chunk of jasper. Nice!

The ocean was calm, until it wasn’t. Rogue waves now pop up and scour the beach, going from nothing to very dangerous in moments. No, this wasn’t the wake of some cruise ship, they came out of nowhere. Bizarre, and potentially deadly.

Once we were satisfied, we returned to venture up the coast. There are four squishies possible between here and home base, and I wanted to try for them. First one was at a tourist shop called Beach Bazaar on Siesta Key, and though there were lots of tourists, we got a decent parking space, mostly in and out.

Now, traveling up the coast? Um, this area was hit hard by the hurricanes, and what are they doing?? Rebuilding, but high-rises instead of individual homes. Because that will solve the problem?? Unreal, but hey, Florida.

Now, I’d wanted to take our friend into the Mote Aquarium, our next squishie destination. Back when we visited, about thirteen years ago, this was a hidden gem and a really cool place to visit. Now? Three new buildings amongst tourist buildup, and people people people. The lot was full and then some. Friend has sound sensitivity, I ain’t subjecting her to torture just to get my way. So hubby ran for the squishies, and friend and I watched the sea crows do battle in the parking lot. There’s one set of squishies each in two separate buildings, so there was a bit of finagling to get there and then out, but nothing too heinous. If there’s such a day as an “off day,” I still might recommend going, but the place isn’t as cool and out of the way as it was before.

Our third stop was a blast out of the past, Jungle Gardens. I remember visiting this place when I was a kid! Since friend and I are in swim suits, and my skirt has gone to Elastic Heaven, we’re not going in. (Another reason we didn’t go to the Mote, but hey, reasons.) Hubby went in, and friend and I watched a peacock fly in from – er, the road? – and land on the roof. Only time I’ve ever seen a peacock fly!

Back on the road, and this time to a mini golf place wedged in between a lot of other touristy places. Their squishie machine was also destroyed by the hurricanes, and they’re too busy fixing everything else that went wrong, so it’s not even on display. Understandable, and we take off for home base.

Luckily it wasn’t too bad getting back, but there was a lot of tourists per square meter crammed into small spaces. Why? Because the places in between were hurricane flattened. I asked, and it also felt to hubby and friend that this was a last hurrah for many of the people we saw walking around, like the Florida they knew was gone.

They’re likely right. I know it felt that way for us as well.

Back at home for dinner, and here’s where I have to apologize again – we had the salmon this night, instead of the night before! Well, if I can’t keep the numbers of the days straight, how can I manage what meal went when? But the time stamps don’t lie, so here’s the curry-coated salmon, with sauteed spinach and mushrooms, and a mixture of jasmine rice, lentils, and brown rice:

I have no idea what we had last night for dinner. Squishies??

I may be a wee bit obsessed…

Either way, we’re soon for bed. Days have a way of catching up to you down here, when you’re suddenly up early.

Time to zonk...