What’s up everyone!
Hope you all had a fantastic Veteran’s day, I know I did. After a busy week of classes, I felt an itch to get off campus today and go someplace I’d never been before! Southern California seems to have forgotten that it’s almost the middle of November, so it was a toasty 88 DEGREES today, if you can believe that. So naturally, my best option was to find a beach ASAP!
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- Time #1 of million at Santa Monica
However, I resisted the urge to go to Santa Monica for the millionth time. Although it’s the nearest beach to USC and there is much to see and do, there are a plethora of other options if you’re dying for some quality time near the water.
Tonight, I decided to explore Manhattan Beach, which is just a 20-25 minute drive from my apartment. Of course, when exploring a new place, there are a number of factors that must be considered:
- PARKING Of course, if it’s feasible to Uber or take the metro, be sure to do that and save yourself the hassle. Personally, I love road trips and really enjoy driving most of the time. What I do not enjoy is paying too much for parking, so I definitely do my research. And it pays off. Tonight I was able to find garage parking for a total of $1.50 for parking from 7pm-11:30pm, which is virtually unheard of in Santa Monica. Wooo!
- P.S. Life Hack: Parkopedia is an AMAZING website that allows drivers to find the closest parking to their destination, tells them how much it will cost and whether the space is available…. which means no more driving around looking for parking! Here’s the link if you want to check it out! http://www.parkopedia.ie/
- THE FOOD Easily one of the most important aspects of the experience to me, Manhattan has an awesome selection of good eats. We ended up eating at this local place called Little Sister, a small Asian Fusion restaurant that was the perfect date spot! The imperial rolls were phenomenal, and don’t even get me started on the shaky shaky beef.
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- Shot from the door
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- Shaky Shaky Beef!
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- THE PIER Afterwards we got ice cream and walked the pier, which was not super crowded and even had an aquarium at the end of it.
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- The Aquarium
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- Manhattan Pier
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Overall, I had a great time exploring a new place tonight, and I will definitely be back to Manhattan. As with anything, it payed off to take a risk and look beyond my comfort zone to places I wouldn’t normally think of going.
Never stop beach hopping,
-Jose
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