Malibu, Poker, and Larry's Again!

 Monday March 10, 2014

The little house we rented has two bikes in the backyard, so Steve thought he might take a bike ride down to look at Muscle Beach. I was not interested, so stayed home to read my book. Before he left, I snapped a photo of him because he just looked so cute on his pink bike!

Steve really enjoyed the bike ride… he even went back and forth a few times. On one of his trips he took a video while he drove, it was almost like I was there with him!

Anyway, he found Muscle Beach, but it was pretty dead being that it was 9:00 on Monday morning.

Unfortunately, Arnie wasn’t hanging around, BUT Steve did find something very exciting. They are setting up on Venice Beach to film American Ninja Warrior, season 6, this weekend. You could see all the apparatus they were setting up. Steve loves this show, and I’m pretty sure he would try to be on it if he could, so he was very thrilled to see  this all set up. Unfortunately they are filming on Friday and Saturday after we leave.

Next we decided to head out to the beach in Malibu. I did a bit of research online and decided to head to Zuma Beach. We mapped out the directions on google and headed out on the Pacific Coast Highway. It was a little more than a half hour drive and we got to enjoy the ocean view along the way.

This is a public beach, but you do need to pay to park. It was $6 for the day. Later, we noticed that you could easily park along the highway just behind the parking lot for free… but clearly we weren’t that on the ball!

The beach has a lifeguard and bathrooms, but no other services (oh, except for the guy collecting the parking money! Cash only by the way!)

It’s a weekday in March so we really had our choice of spots, but it is a really big beach… I’d be surprised if you ever came and couldn’t find a spot! It was sunny and warm, but a little breezy.

We found a spot and settled in. We noticed there was a film crew on the beach so set up our towels moderately close by so we could watch. Steve promptly went over and asked the lady keeping random people out of the scene what was going on, and it seems they are filming some indie movie.  It was actually quite interesting to watch because in the hours we were there, they basically shot about a one minute scene over and over and OVER. (They walk along the beach towards each other, she looks out over the ocean, she notices him, they talk, they kiss). They shot from different angles, used different equipment, shot from far away, shot from close up, you name it they did it. There were tons of people involved too. Who knew you needed that many people? It’s got to cost a small fortune every day that you film.

  

For the rest of the afternoon we basically hung out at the beach, read books, watched them film and enjoyed the sunshine. 

After having a look at Malibu, I’m a bit curious why it’s so prestigious. What makes it better to have a beach house here then somewhere else along the coast? Anyone know the answer to this question?

Tuesday March 11, 2014

Today was Steve’s 2^nd  poker tournament of the week at the Bicycle Casino. Unfortunately, dreams of winning the hardware were thwarted again. Steve was happy about how he played, but sometimes even when you play well you still get beat. Lucky for him, he had something to look forward to… spending time with me 😉

Mural in Venice Beach (across the street from Larry's Pizza)

We decided to head back to Larry’s again for the amazing pizza and fries with dip. It was every bit as good this time. Did I mention the pizza had arugula (always to be known as “rocket” to us) and the sauce was crème fraiche? It was really amazing... even the second time. After dinner, we walked over to the beach and looked at the American Ninja Warrior set. They were working on putting it together still, even though it was late at night.

Setting up for American Ninja Warrior.

The security guard told Steve he thought they were doing some filming on Thursday night, so we are going to come by then and see what’s happening. I’m sure they must have to do practice heats…